Day 20

Buy or make some clay and then use it like you never have before.

How to make homemade clay:
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 cup water
1 ½ tablespoons vegetable oil

Mix the salt and flour together in a mixing bowl. Slowly add the H2O and oil. Mix together until smooth.
Place the dough on waxed paper to shape.
Cook the dough on a cookie sheet at 250 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. Allow to cool before painting.


The Claymaker's Diary
I will never forget the first time I immersed my hands in the cool thickness of that artistic mud. I pulled off a clump of clay and threw it on the wheel. I had no idea what I was doing. I only knew the clay felt smooth in my hand. The wheel purred as I pushed it to life. I wrapped my hands around the small cube and pushed slightly, but it was too hard. The top of the block whirled off splattering clay all over my apron. More clay to dry onto the mud drenched dressing. It was much harder than it seemed. I labored over that wheel for hours, long after the class had finished, the teacher had locked up and left for the day. I sat in almost darkness watching my clay gloved hands shape the mud. My block of clay turned into an oddly shaped bowl. It resembled a piece of Tupperware melted in the microwave, but to me, it was a masterpiece. An Andy Warhol of clay bowls. Today that piece sits gallantly on the desk in my studio. It seems to emanate prestige to all the other pottery, the pottery that I sell for hundred of dollars. I could never sell that lopsided bowl. It's not worth anything, to anyone but me.