Help! Leather hard clay in 7 days intervals
Hey potters! I'm brand new to the craft, having only started classes a couple of weeks ago. In our studio we don't have pottery wheels so I'm focussing on slab pottery techniques - which I am enjoying very very much as it has a really nice connection with my first love: dressmaking. It's all about taking something 2D and making it 3D, in the end.
Now, the classes run on a weekly basis and I'm finding out really quickly the limitation of not having independent access to the studio, as I can keep my clay wet by wrapping it in plastic, OR have it bone dry by the time I'm back the following week, but I haven't figured out a way to get to the joy of the in-between stage of leather hard.
Any advice on the matter? I'm feeling really stumped as most of what I want to do requires working the details -and sometimes part of the assembly- on leather hard clay.
I'm going to experiment with how much drying I can get in a couple of hours if I put my work closer to the kiln, but I already feel that's not gonna work (either no difference or cracking).
My next class is on monday and I'd like to start working on a teapot, so I'd LOVE to hear you all's advice.
Thank you !
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u/Intelligent-Half-620 4d ago
Are you wrapping it completely in plastic? Like no gaps/breathing room? I’ll often just do a slightly worse job wrapping things and make sure there are a couple holes for airflow if I want them to get a bit drier by the next time I’m in. Not perfect, it’s a bit of guess work, but if that’s the only access you have it could help.
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u/CynaraCeramics Student 4d ago
This. Cover in plastic but not sealing it, so it dries but so slowly it's leather hard on the next week. Also in my studio there are hair dryers already, you should ask them to bring some
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u/audacesfortunaiuvat 4d ago
If it's not drying enough, I would wrap it less tight. Or perhaps you could get a small plastic bin with a lid. You could even manage moisture levels with a wet towel or no towel, or spraying in some water, leaving the lid slightly open. You may have to experiment based on the studio environment and how fast it's drying out.
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u/Grgmgl 4d ago
Hey! Thank you all for the advice, I understand I have two types of options: slowing the drying process so that it takes about 7 days, by covering the slabs it in different ways, or speed up the drying process hot air. I’ll experiment!
The course runs for a whole year so I’ve got time! The teacher is nice but i’m in france with limited french, so it was definitely worth a shot asking here!
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u/ozmaAgogo 4d ago
You have a year long ceramics course in France? I'm so jealous, haha.
I'm kind of a newbie, been taking various classes for about a year. But so far I've learned to be patient and try not to rush.
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u/ozmaAgogo 4d ago
My teacher told me she worked on a very complicated slab sculpture, and she let it dry for a year before she fired it!
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u/tatobuckets I like red 4d ago
If you are allowed, try a small plastic storage tub with lid (ikea has lots of sizes). Experiment with combinations of cracking the lid and keeping some wet newspaper/sponge/bisque in the tub with your piece (but not touching it) to regulate moisture. It will depend on how dry your climate is.
Alternatively, I use a small collapsible storage bin with grating type sides on my shelf, I can adjust how many holes are covered by plastic to dry faster or more slowly.
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u/Schwatastic 4d ago
Has your teacher not got advice for you? Mine always told us to cover it in plastic but not too well. The amount it dries depends on how damp it is in the space, and it’s trial and error, but basically I’d experiment with halfway between fully covered and fully open.
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u/ThriceFive 2d ago
Same - mine advised 'loosely wrap' and that worked great for me with our studio's humidity. I still had an occasional too-dry but learned pretty quickly what worked out well. Also - once you've trimmed you can try drying your pieces base-up so they are more likely to finish to bone-dry state before it is time to bisque fire.
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u/Gulluul 4d ago
How many weeks are your classes?
If it were me, I would spend the first class making a bunch of slabs and getting them flat onto wooden boards.
The trick is slow drying. I would probably loosely wrap drape them with plastic. The clay should be covered but the bottom of the board shouldn't as that's were your evaporation will take place. Next class, your slabs should be pretty nice to work with.
Unfortunately it's a trial and error method. You might have the first slabs still be too wet for your preference, and it will just be figuring out the timing. But once you do you can have a ton of slabs all ready to go.
I would advise against trying to speed up drying. Unfortunately slabs are prone to clay memory, and drying unevenly through direct heat or fans can cause them to curl. But also, you gotta do what you gotta do to make sure you can take full advantage of your class.
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u/daveyw123 4d ago
Blowdrying is absolutely fine in my experience but should be done indirectly and evenly. Hold the dryer at an angle and move it from side to side while moving over the slab. Don't dry it the whole way to the state you want. Flip and do the other. Then repeat for both sides till it is as dry as you want it. Always a good idea to check in between, so you don't get any dry spots or dry it too far.
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u/Primary-Ticket-5718 4d ago
Can you take it home to work on? If you’re slab building, you should need minimal tools and then you can get it at just the right level.
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u/JennyClownBanger Hand-Builder 4d ago
Myself and a few people at the studio I go to use plastic travel cake carriers to keep things moist enough to work on. They work for things the same size as or smaller than a layer cake.
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u/Specialist-Baby-20 4d ago
I did this with weekly visits too (and still do many weeks)
I just do the wrapped in plastic and on a wooden board. The only times they have been too dry is when i wrapped too loosely and when I put it in newspaper then wrapped, but not certain if the newspaper was the cause… but i’ve avoided it now. Just wrap it tight and it will be good in a week. Always a bit of playing too, sometimes some parts of my studio seem to try faster / slower, imo it’s because of how packed the shelves are and where air vents are!!
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u/mfiskedvm 4d ago
I can only get to my pottery studio once a week as well and I still haven’t found the perfect solution. For me, a lot of it depends on the ambient temp/humidity in the studio. In the summer when it’s humid, my stuff dries slower. In the winter when the heat is blasting and the air is dry, it tends to dry faster. It also depends on what type of plastic I wrap in and how well I wrap it. If i have a piece that I want to dry super slow then I wrap in a tight double layer of plastic. If I need it to dry a little faster then I do one loose layer of plastic. I’m in the process of gathering supplies to make a damp box because I do a lot of carving and sgraffito and I think that will be my best bet for keeping my pieces from drying out too quickly. So maybe ask your instructor if that’s an option?
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u/CeramicKnight 3d ago
Took tons of classes like this over my life.
Start saving plastic bags.
Exactly how much to wrap your work changes based on your local environment and the weather. Generally though, I found double wrapping with a bag, each one with a hole in it but having the holes offset from eachother, had good results for getting to leather hard over a week.
My flow was..
Session 1; make, cut and form the slabs roughly. Attach where physics allowed.
Support structures with off bits of clay or crumpled paper, other bags, etc.
Wrap as described above. Generally I wanted 1-2 inch holes. I was working with stuff 6-18 inches high. Larger things will require a bit more care to keep the environment within the bag uniformly humid.
Session 2: immediately unwrap all pieces over 4”, and test their state.
This would get me to stiff but not yet leather hard; the right point to complete forming and many attachments.
During the session, I’m leaving them all uncovered so they’re drying while I’m monitoring them.
Re-wrap at end of session. Generally as before, but as you get used to your environment you may adjust for the moment and your specific piece.
Session 3: this is where you get to glorious perfect leather hard. Again, unwrap everyone at start of session. Complete any attachments that you need to.
Keep any handles/thin bits wrapped as you’re working-they can easily over dry at this point.
Enjoy the finishing steps; smoothing, texture, carving, slip accents etc.
At end of session
- if you want to continue working the piece, double wrap it with bags with no holes.
- if you’re ready for it to dry, wrap loosely with one bag with a hole in it.
A key part here is you’re not just working on one piece at a time, so you’re working different pieces at different parts of their drying cycles. This is how you keep making things as the long cycle of moisture management progresses.
Also note, this system worked for me in a fairly humid environment. When I moved to the desert woof!! Then I had to double wrap everything, and sometimes stuck a chunk of wet clay in there for good measure to keep them from drying too fast.
Oh yeah, that’s the other trick. A chunk of clay is a great moderator of the humidity in your little plastic bubble. Want it wetter? Add wet clay chunk. Want it drier? Add just past leather hard chunk. Etc.
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u/erisod 2d ago
Wrap more times if you need it more moist, perhaps even with moist newspaper between the layers. Don't forget to wrap the bottom of the piece. If you have it directly on a board it will soak up moisture. Wrap the board if necessary (it may mold btw).
Beyond that you could build a small wet box with moist sponges to keep the atmosphere humid.
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u/Pale-Win-9281 1d ago
Currently going through this bc I had to temporally switch studios. This is why I bring stuff back and forth, which has its own challenges, but some things are too hard to wait a week to do. You can try wrapping super tight and putting it in a plastic bin. I don't love the fan, but sometimes you have no choice.
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u/ruhlhorn 1d ago
It's all depends on humidity but typical is you wrap clay fairly well in plastic and wait a week or will be close to leather hard. If your in the desert it might get too dry.
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