Clay Basics

Learn to wedge, roll, coil, etch and join clay.

This is designed for beginners, students, teachers and for those who need a refresh on the process. It's simple instruction with pics and video broken up into steps. Clay can be intimidating if you’ve never done it before but trust me it is so much fun, so rewarding and you’ll want to do it again and again.

Learn the S's of joining clay: score, slip, stick and smooth. I give you easy to understand definitions of the clay terminology along the way to help understand the clay techniques. Along with tips and tricks I’ve learnt through some pretty epic failures. Clay can be unpredicatable, technical and you can never be sure what’s going to come out of the kiln, but that’s part of the fun!

Start with setting up all your materials.
Materials: I have clay, water in a jug, a cup, satay stick (sometimes called a bamboo skewer) and a board to work on.

Step 1: Make your Slip.

Slip is just a mixture of clay and water. This is used to join clay together, think of it as your clay glue. To make it just break off a few pieces of clay and add to a small amount of water. Stir and leave it to sit so the water absorbs the clay. Ideally leave it overnight but in a pinch water will work.

Step 2: Wedge your Clay.

Hot Tip: If you have hot hands or dry hands pat a little water on them before you start. The clay will pull moisture out of your hands and if they’re too dry it will cause cracks. If they are too slippery however your clay will get mushy and won’t hold shape. So just a sprinkle of water, you can always add more.

Wedging clay pushes the air bubbles out of the clay which is essential. If air bubbles get trapped in the clay the air will expand during the firing process and cause splits or worse explosions. Don’t worry most school clay is pre-wedged these days so a little bit of wedging will be fine. When wedging use the heel of your hand and your body weight so it’s best to stand up so you can push down. Peel the clay up each time and re-position so you don’t just end up with a flat pancake of clay. You want to finish with a lumpy ball shape.

 Step 3: Roll a Clay Ball.

Rolling a clay ball is a great way to get your clay ready to shape and warm up your hands. You can use one flat hand and move it in a circular motion with the clay on a table, or you can pick it up and roll it between your two flat hands.

Step 4: Roll a Coil.

 Rolling a coil is a way of building up pots, but it is also great for adding details, handles on cups and even if you need to add more clay to a join. Oh and of course if you’re making a snake! Make a coil by shaping your clay into a sausage shape and then rolling back and forth with both hands with a bit of pressure. As your coil starts to take shape, move your hands apart as you roll. This will make your coil thinner and longer.

 Step 5: Make a Pinch

 A Pinch Pot allows you to make a bowl, cup or even a hollow form upside down to turn into an animal. Start with a ball of clay. Push your thumb in the middle to make an indent. Careful not to push your thumb all the way through the bottom, you don’t want a donut. Then start squeezing the clay gently between your thumb and fingers as you rotate the ball around, it’s a bit like a quacking duck’s beak in action. You can smooth out any cracks with a finger dipped in water. Just think patting a baby chick pressure not patting an elephant or you’ll change the shape of your pot. If you’re not happy, well just squish it into a ball again and have another go.

Step 6: Joining Clay

If you want to add an animal head, a handle or feet to your clay creation you need to join clay properly. If you don’t, when it dries the two pieces will just fall apart. So you need to learn the 4 S’s of joining clay.

The first S is Score.

This just means scratching up the clay so it is roughly textured and the two pieces can grip together. I like to cross hatch with my satay stick but there are specialty clay tools and some people even use a toothbrush, just don’t use your actual toothbrush as it will get clay all over it! Make sure you score both pieces you are going to join.

The second S is Slip.

Remember we made that slip in step one and I said to think of it as clay glue? Well now is when you put some slip on both of the pieces where you have scored them. This will help them stick together. If you need to you can use water, if your slip isn’t ready.

The third S is Stick.

This just means pushing your two pieces together. Another good S word for this is smoosh! Just don’t smoosh so hard that you lose their shapes. The slip and stick will help get rid of any air between your pieces and help them stay together.

The fourth S is smooth.

Oh this is so important. You want to smooth that join. You are in effect taking small amounts of clay with your finger or a tool to move to the other piece of clay so you can no longer see the join line. You need to do this properly or again your join could fall apart. Smooth the clay join so it looks like the one piece of clay.

If your join is too thin and wobbly you can add in a secret fifth S, which I call Scarf. This is because you make a thin coil that looks like a scarf when you wrap it around the join. This adds clay to your join to make it more solid. Just make sure you score, slip and smooth the coil too so you can’t tell you added a scarf, and it won’t unravel.

Step 7: Texture your Clay

This is where you can push, stamp and etch patterns into your clay to create an interesting texture. Etch just means drawing into the clay. Be careful to go gently so you don’t squash your shape. When etching, drawing, into clay your taking clay way so you’ll need to brush away the excess. Any rough surfaces or balls of clay will be very sharp once dry and fired.

Step 8: Smooth any cracks

You can do this all the way throughout your making process when your clay gets dry. Just dip your finger into some water and rub your finger back and forth to smooth out any bumps. Another great tip is to tap your pot base or top lightly on the flat of your work surface to even it out.

Step 9: Pack Up

Wrap up any unused clay in plastic and a clear airtight bin. This is also important if working on projects over a few weeks, you need to keep them moist. You can’t attach wet to dry clay. I use class tubs with bin liners in them and laminate name tags to sit the pieces on. It gets heavy so use a trolley. If you’re worried about clay drying out, spray or sprinkle a little water before sealing it up.

If you don’t have a clay trap under your sink- wash hands in a tub of water and throw the water on a garden bed. IHey clay comes from the ground in the first place. t’s a good idea to wipe off as much clay as you can before washing your hands anyway. Make sure you wipe down all surfaces and tools with a wet cloth to avoid clay dust which is not good for our lungs. I work on wooden boards that can be easily wiped down and have a separate cupboard for clay tools.

Top Tip: If your hands are dry from working with clay put some moisturising hand cream on them. Clay work can be punishing on skin. I also often put on dishwashing gloves when handing out clay to hundreds of students. They’re only touching it one lesson a week, your hands will be in it all day all the weeks of using clay.

Step 10: Drying out.

Make sure you put your clay somewhere it can dry out. I like wooden slated shelves so air can rotate right around it. You’ll need to leave it 1 to 2 weeks depending on it’s size and the temperature. If it’s not dry enough it will explode in the kiln as that moisture turns to steam. It’ll also take out the works around it. I had an epic fail years ago but instead of being upset the kids cheered at the news of a cool explosion. Guess it’s all how you frame it. It will change colour as it dries. Another good indicator, which sounds a bit weird, but hold the piece up to your cheek. If it feels really cold it’s probably still wet inside. You can use heaters to speed up the process but don’t do it too quickly or you’ll end up with cracks. You want to fire with the temp going up and down slowly too to avoid cracks.

Step 11: Kiln Firing

If you’re lucky enough to have a kiln you can load and fire your clay once it’s dry. This first firing is called a Bisque Fire. Just remember biscuit sounds like Bisque! Just like biscuits going hard in the oven. Once these are fired and cooled you can colour them. If you don’t have a kiln you can use a firing service from someone who does have one. Some ceramic studios offer this service to make a bit of extra money, so prepare to pay. Pack in dry rice or newspaper and packing peanuts this stage is very fragile. You can use a good quality air dry clay, like DAS if a kiln is not an option. If at home I have seen microwave contraptions for firing clay but I have never used one and well I don’t know, I saw it on Tik Tok so grain of salt as to how effective and safe it is.

Make sure you follow OH&S guidelines when firing your kiln as the fumes are not healthy. Kilns should be in a well-ventilated area, or at least have an extraction fan. The kiln will fire to over 1000 degrees celsius so you don’t want to be opening or touching it mid firing so in a separate locked room, only firing on weekends or behind a locked gated area. Take the safety very seriously, read the kiln instruction manual carefully, contact the manufacturer if you need a new one or check online. Make sure you tell your Principal and cleaning team and staff when the kiln is firing so everyone is more safety aware.

Your Kiln manufacturer should be able come out and do a safety service if it hasn’t been used for a while. Check this out as some old kilns have asbestos. They can also teach you how to work it. I have used both top load manual kilns you need to turn up every 2 hours, very high maintenance! And front load automatic kilns which you just set to run a program.

Step 12: Colouring Clay

Once bisque fired the clay will be fragile if dropped but if the joins survived it’ll be stronger than the drying stage. They are now ready to colour. You have a few different options. You can glaze them which is wonderful and unpredictable and requires a second firing at a higher temperature. There are under glazes and glazes. I use a technique where I dip each bisque fired work in a tub of clear glaze, it dries in a minute, then students paint on under glaze colours with fine brushes. Make sure you wax the base by rubbing a candle or wax crayon on the bottom of each work and wipe off excess glaze so it doesn’t make the works stick to the kiln shelves. I have had to chissel work off with a screw driver before, some made it, some didn’t!

Hints: I like choosing a light-coloured clay rather than terracotta for vibrant colours. I choose Terracotta if we’re not going to colour them.

You can also use acrylic paint and a shiny gloss varnish to try emulating this effect.

On lighter coloured clay you can actually use watercolour to stain the clay for a matt effect. These won’t be waterproof, just ornamental and are a subtler effect.

You can also colour with oil pastel and them dip in black Japanese drawing ink. This is a cool effect as the oil and ink resist and the black seeps into all the etched detail making it really pop. Like this cool snake.

 Top Tip: I wrap work to go home in newspaper or butchers’ paper with masking tape wrapped around which I can write names on. Less likely to get thrown out or broken this way.

Indigenous Perspective: When showing students clay artists for inspiration, make sure to include the Hermannsburg Potter’s from Central Australia. The native animlas are so bright and colouful and the football themed pots will engage the more sporty type kids too!

Check out my Clay Play playlist on my YouTube channel for more videos on working with clay.