4 Practical Solutions to the Obstacles of Sculpting with Clay at Home.
Usually, working with clay requires a messy space, like a garage or studio. But if you can only work from home, here’s a few obstacles you may face and how to navigate around them.
1. Too Messy?
Maybe the thought of all the hassle and mess of clearing up puts you off starting in the first place. If so, create a tray work-space Simply get a tray, your clay, a few tools, a jam jar for slip and you're ready to make.
For clean up - think DUST!!
Dry = BAD for lungs
Under-Water: clean clothes or apron in washing machine and wash your hands before eating
Spray or sponge or soak up any dry clay with water to prevent dust - don’t brush it up dry, mopping is preferable.
Travel: dust travels in the air, so no flicking dry brushes (tempting!!) or patting aprons down.
Take care of those lungs.
2. Transport difficulties?
If you have to consider how you'll transport the piece once you make it, working at a large scale becomes tricky. Scale down to something you can easily move that is relatively compact.
Or if you can't help yourself but create something with lots of easily breakable parts, pick up a crate, wood and two handles. Cut the wooden board to fit snugly in the crate, screw-on two handles and create your sculpture on the board.
When you're ready to transport your sculpture you can lift the wooden board rather than the sculpture and carefully place it in the crate, scrunch up some newspaper around your sculpture and you're good to go.
3. Drying out too Quickly?
Drying time is another consideration about making when you're not sure how often you'll get a chance to work, particularly with the warmer weather approaching. To compensate you can:
Work Solidly and then hollow and reassemble afterwards - this means your work stays damp for longer
Create a Makeshift Damp Cupboard. You can do this by using an airtight plastic box (ideally the next step would be pouring in a plaster floor to create damp conditions.) But if that's not possible, the next best thing is to include an open jar of water within the box. If you can't get a deep enough box, simply placing a bucket over your piece does the same trick. Make sure you still wrap your works in a bag too.
4. No Access to a Kiln?
If you've no access to a kiln sometimes it feels like it's not worth making as there are so few places that rent kilns.
If you’re local to Belfast, I can help - You're welcome to use mine - Contact Me if/when you want to book. (After the Corona Virus that is!!)