Free Clay Workshops for Everyone

A year and a half ago we put together complete clay sculpting craft kits.  They had clay, paints, brushes, everything needed to make two complete clay sculptures.  The kit also included a 40 minute instructional DVD on how to make the piece step by step. We sold a few, but sales were not what we had expected or hoped.  So..... now the workshops are free on Youtube. The kits are still available, if someone watches on Youtube, they still need the supplies, but we want the knowledge there for everyone.

We have seven workshops available and we will be constantly adding more starting in January. We are trying to move to Coutts AB, but like most things in life, it is taking longer and costing more than we ever thought possible. We plan to be settled the end of December. When we get settled we will turn one bedroom into a production studio. Not only will we be creating a series of workshops aimed at a younger audience, we will be sharing everything we  have learned over the years as production potters and artists.

We may be retiring from in the classroom workshops, but we are far from quitting work. We are excited about building the channel and sharing everything we can think of that is clay related. We want clay in the hands of students  from all over and not just here in Edmonton. We want Every Day to be Clay Day!

Please have a look at the channel.  If there is something that you would like to see in a lesson on our channel, let us know. 

Until next time.

AKA

Mrs. Clay

More about not firing decorative clay pieces. A repost from January 16th 2012

More about Air Dry Clay.

We are in our second year of offering Air Dry Workshops. Teachers that booked Air Dry workshops last year are doing the same again this year. We do more Air Dry workshops than the fired ones. Teachers that have booked us fired first then Air Dry, always rebook Air Dry. When we are at a trade show, everything in our booth is Air Dry and we never fire anything before painting. All sample pieces we do as The Clay Teacher are not fired. Houses are made from unfired clay. Entire towns are made out of unfired clay from the Adobes in the South West, to Africa, Israel and India

One such dwelling is the "Musgum clay house". Named after its creators, the Musgum, an ethnic group in the far north province in Cameroon. The house is created from compressed sun-dried clay.

San Miguel Chapel, Sante Fe, New Mexico is the oldest church structure in the US. Original adobe walls built in approximately 1610 AD.

When making projects with the Air Dry method, you have to be familiar with clay and know how to work with it in order to have success. If the projects are made properly, you will not have problems with them later. When you follow the instructions of The Clay Teacher and the DVDs all pieces are sturdy and will last as San Miguel Chapel, unless dropped of course, then all fired or unfired clay will break.

When students make something out of clay and paint it, it is notpottery,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pottery it is only decorative or sculpture,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sculpture. The pieces are not intended to be used in the kitchen as pottery, so there is no reason to finish them as a piece of pottery. However, the Air Dry method creates a very sturdy project.

Here is a little dish we put through the rinse cycle in the dishwasher. We sure do NOT recommend dishwasher safe, but it certainly survived and we still have it.

Taking the kiln out of the picture opens up clay to anyone, anytime, anywhere.

Every day is Clay Day!

Until the next time.

Cindy

What is Air Dry Clay? (A repost from June 19, 2011)

I have been playing around with different clay bodies to see what ones work best with the air dry method and painting with acrylic paint. We use Plainsman Clay and in the class room we always use Buffstone. It is very good clay for schools. It has a low shrinkage rate, it’s economical and the light grey colour doesn't stain hands or clothes. Buffstone dries very hard and it is easy to work with. I made a sample project with M370 and the M390. Those clays shrink a lot more when they dry and are not as forgiving as the Buffstone in the drying process, but after all the samples were painted, you can't tell one from the other in look or feel.

Everyone thinks that clay has to be fired. Everything that you make out of clay has to be put into a kiln and kept forever. I hear all the time that someone made a little something in school out of clay and their mom still has it or they still have it. Clay is seen as this mystery substance that you get to work with once or twice in your childhood, the firing process, well that certainly is not for the faint of heart. Everything that is made is priceless and must be kept forever.

How many pictures does a child draw in their school years? How many cut and paste “somethings” are made and as soon as they are off the wall they go into the recycle? It is making the piece, learning to use the pencil, the glue, and the crayons, that is the fun. Like everything else, the more work they do, the better the work gets. If clay gets into the classroom and is used like cut and paste, or pencil crayons, just think what the kids could do after years of clay experience in school. If all the focus goes off the end project and goes to learning how to work with the medium, clay looses it mystic and awe and gets back into the hands of children where it should be. For about a dollar, a student can have enough clay to make just about any project they like. If they don’t like it, roll it up and start over. If the clay gets dry, add water and use it again.

No, a piece of clay that is not fired is not a sturdy as a fired piece. However, both are very hard. If you drop either one, they will break, and both will last for years as a decoration. The big difference between fired student work and air dried student work, is that with air dry, all you need is a ball of clay and a willing student. The fired piece is a bit more of a challenge.

So what is “Air Dry Clay”……….. clay that is not wet anymore.

Until the next time.

AKA Mrs.  Clay

And now for something completely different!

The Clay Teacher is making changes.We have been presenting clay workshops in the Edmonton area for the past four years.  Now we offer you clay workshops on Youtube for free. Mr. and Mrs. Clay have retired from presenting workshops and now we are making our workshops available to everyone.  You, a teacher' or PAC groups can lead the workshop yourself. We show you how to lead your group through making a clay project, whenever and wherever you want.  The Clay Teacher offers free video instruction in popular projects for all age groups. We will be creating new workshops and if there is something you would like to see, ask and we will have it on Youtube as quickly as we can.

We are moving to Coutts AB where life is slow and the weather is warm. Where is Coutts you ask?  It is a small town as far south in Alberta as you can go and one of the busiest Canada - US border crossings in Western Canada.

We have put over 7,000 kilometers on the car driving around Southern Alberta looking for the right place to call home. Wednesday we are going south.....again....to look at lots..  I always call them city lots, but with about 280 people living there, it's not quite a city. We will purchase the lot, then build a pad for our modular home will purchase Friday or Monday.  We thought we had our new home all lined up right up until we didn't. But the new modular home is nicer than the first one.  Not nicer now, but after a bit of work it will be. We had purchased a bunch of flooring to fix up the first one, and then the deal fell through, so we have a garage full of flooring and no trailer. Then found a place online for sale and it is a modular and not a mobile. A 76' long 16' wide modular that has no flooring.  A perfect match.  Here are some before pictures. 

    

 

I am looking forward to having time to soak in that tub. I like to play "tea bag".

The local school district closed the school in Coutts and the village (not the city) has taken it over. They have built a public library, and the Coutts Recreation and Arts Society. The Society was formed to operate the School as a Community Centre. We will be working with them to set up a public pottery studio in their art room. A win win for all involved.We will get a large and wonderful studio and they will have access to all our equipment and knowledge. We plan to build a great facility and are very excited about it. 

We have three bedrooms in our new home.  We will be turning one into the production studio where we will do all our own video. We have all  the equipment and we are ready to go.  Well, maybe not quite ready to shoot just yet! Here is a shot of the room.  It needs some work,(Paint!) besides a village lot to go to. 

 That pink was so loud, we heard it while walking down the hall. 

We had a great time as Mr. and Mrs. Clay. We will still be Mr. and Mrs. Clay on video instead of in person. As soon as we are up and running we will be constantly adding to our Youtube channel.  If there is a lesson you would like to see, ask us and we get it on line as soon as we can. Please let others know about the channel. We want to make every day Clay Day!

Until next time.

AKA Mrs. Clay

AKA