What is Clay?
What is Clay?
Clay is a special type of
MUD 
Clay is a natural occurring
substance found in the earth.
Clay is made of very fine
particles of dirt which float in a
stream or river and then sink to
the bottom, where they press
on each other and stick
together. You generally find
clay along the banks of a river
or stream.
These cliffs in Martha's Vineyard are
made almost entirely of clay.
Clay is sticky when
it is wet, so you can
make it any shape
you like, and then it
dries hard.
To make clay stick together
when it dries you have to
score and slip the clay
To attach 2 pieces of clay
together you have to:
Score – an X mark on the clay
Slip – adding water to clay
(only add a little bit of water so that the clay
doesn’t turn into a muddy mess!)
3 methods of clay construction
Slab – clay is rolled out
into a flat slab, like a
pancake, and then cut
into shapes.
Pinch – clay can be
pinched into shapes and
this is usually done with
pots.
Coil – clay can be rolled
out by hand into a coil or
snake
How does Clay become hard?
When the clay is dry you put it in a fire,
or in an oven (a clay oven is called a
kiln) and bake it for a while, the clay
gets even harder and it will not get soft
again. This is called firing.
Kiln – a special oven for clay
The kiln gets very hot and fires the clay
at 2,000 to 5,000 degrees.
How hot does the oven for food in your
house get?
Glaze
Once clay is fired in a kiln it turns hard like a stone
and can not get soft again.
Clay is often painted or glazed for decoration.
Glaze – is a special glass paint that is used on clay
to create a shiny and waterproof coating.
Glaze is made out of water, pigment (color), and
sand.
What is glass made out of?
nd
2
Firing
Bisque wear to Glaze wear
Once the clay is painted with glaze it
must be fired in the kiln again to melt
the sand in the paint to create the glass
coating
What do you use every day that
is made out of clay in the
bathroom?
What do you use in the
kitchen that is made out of
clay?
Clay and Ancient Times
People first began firing fire
clay about 6000 BC.
People in the ancient world
used clay to build houses by
making bricks and drying
them in the sun. They mixed
straw with the clay to help it
stick together better. This is
called mud-brick, or adobe
(ah-DOUGH-bee), or pise
(pea-SAY). They fired the
bricks, to make them harder
and more waterproof.
Clay and Ancient Times
This is the world’s largest adobe structure made out of mud bricks.
The citadel of Arg-é Bam: The world's largest adobe structure, dating to at least 500 BC.
Located in southeastern Iran.
Clay houses in the US today
are made of bricks
Portraits
before photography statues were often
used to remember people
China is a famous world leader
throughout history for their ceramic
production
Porcelain
Terra
Cotta Warriors
Clay Vessels from Greece and Rome
are often found in Art Museums like
The Tampa Museum of Art
Modern Ceramic Art
Modern
More Things Made From Clay
Modern
Recommended Slab Based
Ceramics projects
K – 6 Initial Tile (easy)
2-12th G Plates & Bowls (easy)
Intermediate level Slab based Projects
3 – 12th G Totem Pole
School garden installation
sculpture
Intermediate to Advanced
level Slab based Projects
5 – 12th G Castle
6 – 12th G Soap Dish
Clay Soap Dish
Design a soap dish to hold a bar of soap
The dish should be about the size of your
hand or larger with raised feet and
drainage holes or grooves for excess water
Soap Dish Examples
Clay Castle Project
1) Draw a
castle on paper
to scale. Each
side of the
castle will be a
separate piece
2) Cut out and
tape the model
castle together
to make sure it
is correct.
3) Open the
paper model
and cut out
each piece in
a clay slab to
match the
paper exactly
4) Construct
the castle out
of clay using
coils to
connect the
slabs at the
corners
Clay Castle Design Options
1) Tower - circular
2) Block - square
Clay Pinch Pot
1) roll a circle
2) insert your thumb
3) pinch it open with your thumb inside
Make sure your fingers are flat and
that you pinch the entire pot
evenly bottom to top