Q: Is pottery clay any good for sculpture?

A: There are various products that are called clay of one sort or another. The most basic is water-based or potter's clay. This is what has been used for millennia for making ceramic objects, and it has been the primary material in which sculptors have traditionally worked out their ideas. It is formed by the natural decomposition of rock into microscopic flat plates, which trap water between them, causing its characteristic "plasticity". It is often deposited by rivers in deep layers, from which it is extracted for use. Some clay is ready to use as dug, that found in other locations may need refining or mixing with other components to be useful.

If you find some clay; try this test: roll it between your hands to form a cylinder approximately half an inch in diameter and four inches long. Bend this double. If the clay cracks, it is either too dry or it lacks
sufficient plasticity to be used as-is. If it bends smoothly, and doesn't seem to contain rocks or sand, then it might work for making sculpture without further refinement. Clay can also , of course, be purchased from a ceramic supply outlet. Find a local one, as shipping costs are expensive for bulk materials like this. In general, clay used for sculpting has ground-up fired clay, called "grog" added to it for stiffness and heat-shock resistance. While this makes the clay grainier, it also is easier to sculpt and fire.

Potter's clay has various advantages and disadvantages for sculpture. It is relatively inexpensive, or free if you find a place to dig it up. It can be easily sculpted with a minimum of tools, and can be smoothed with water, and cleaning it off one's hands and equipment is easy. Scraps and any unfired pieces can be reclaimed by soaking them in a bucket of water until they soften, breaking up lumps with ones fingers until a more or less even consistency is attained. The resulting glop is then placed on a thick
plaster slab, which sucks out the water until the clay can be kneaded or "wedged". When it is moist, it can be shaped with one's fingers or blunt modeling tools, it retains impressions well, and it releases well from plaster molds. Although clay is generally considered non-toxic, clay dust contains large amounts of free silica, which is very hazardous to inhale, causing a disease called "silicosis". It is essential to avoid breathing this as much as possible, and to keep the workspace clean, without accumulations of dry clay underfoot. Also, glaze ingredients can be even more highly toxic, containing minerals like barium, lead, ground glass, cobalt and even uranium. Wearing an approved respirator when dealing with dry ingredients is essential.

Clay is the most malleable of materials. It is easily shaped by hand, and much beautiful work has been done without using any tools at all, just fingers. Forms can be built up from coils or rolled-out slabs, or the potter's wheel can be used to quickly produce a hollow unit for subsequent assembly. A wide range of tools can be used to shape it as well, from wooden sticks or metal shapes to loop-ended tools, "ribs" (rigid or flexible flat shapes), and numerous other implements, such as are commonly found in kitchens. It is easy to make ones own tools for impressing or modeling clay as well. Plaster is particularly suited for pressing into clay, since its absorbancy prevents it from sticking, but once-fired clay itself can also be used this way. If a smooth surface is desired, natural sponges are used damp, which easily round over slight convexities.

As it dries to the "leather-hard" stage, clay can be carved cleanly with knives and other sharp tools, and can be burnished until shiny with a rock or a metal tool. When it is thoroughly dry, it can be "fired" in a "kiln", which is an oven capable of temperatures from 1000 to 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. At the lower end of this temperature range, the "chemical water" is driven off, and the piece is called "bisque". At this point it is still porous, but will not dissolve if placed in water. At the higher end of the range, the piece will "vitrify", becoming denser and less porous. This point is different with earthenware and stoneware clays. Earthenware clays should be bisque-fired at a lower temperature than stoneware, and should never be taken to stoneware temperatures, as they will liquify. While stoneware is more durable, some sculptors like the wider range of colors available in the earthenware range, and the utility bills are lower as well.

Some sculptors use clay as a permanent medium, firing their work in a kiln. Others use it as an intermediary step, making a clay model from which a mold is taken. The mold can be used to make sculpture in plaster, concrete, bronze, or other materials. For this application a clay has been developed
which resists drying out. Called WED (Waterbased Extended Drying) clay, it is a potter's clay with agents added to retard the drying cycle, affording additional time to work.

If one wishes to cast multiple pieces in clay and fire them, a multi-part mold is made in plaster. Then a clay "slip" is poured in, left to build up a layer in the mold cavity, and poured out, leaving a hollow shell which is left to dry some more, then removed. The resultant forms can be assembled to make quite complex composite objects, like the famous figurines of Meissen and Dresden.

Slip is clay in a liquid form. Clay, as I mentioned, is composed of microscopic plates, which cling to each other's flat surfaces, giving it plasticity- the quality that makes it hang together as it is being worked.
The difference between slip and clay is the presence of a "deflocculant." This is a chemical agent that is added to clay powder, along with water, which reduces the plasticity of the clay so that it becomes pourable with the addition of less water than would otherwise be the case, and reduces the tendency to form lumps. It does this by reducing the attraction that the tiny flat plates have for one another.

The deflocculants most commonly used are sodium silicate (waterglass) and sodium carbonate (soda ash), often in combination. Just a little is needed: one third of one percent of the weight of the dry ingredients. Using too much will accelerate the deterioration of your plaster molds. Mix the deflocculant into the water first, then add the clay. The water will weigh between a third and a half as much as the clay that goes into it. Mix dry clay powder into the water/deflocculant until it won't accept any more
without getting too thick to pour or forming lumps. Try for a consistency like heavy cream. This makes a slip that will dry on the inner surface of the mold quickly, and will release without warping, cracking or sticking. Do a small-scale test before mixing a large batch, in order to get the proportions right. Some clays won't deflocculate properly at all, and this is good to find out. One can buy dry clay formulated especially to work as a casting slip. For small projects, it is often easiest to buy liquid slip already mixed at a ceramic supply.

Another indirect method using a clay original is the "waste mold" technique. One makes a sculpture in clay, covers it in plaster, digs out the clay, and then one pours in more plaster. Use a couple of applications of liquid dish detergent as a release, allowing it to dry between coats, and put some colorant in the plaster one pours in. This will help when (destructively) removing the outer plaster shell, so one can see where the mold stops and the casting begins. Originals made in water-based clay can be molded with 2-component synthetic rubber compounds, but it helps to seal the surface first with shellac followed up with wax mold release.

If one wishes to fire a piece of clay sculpture of any size, it must be hollow, or it will tend to explode in the kiln. This will also occur if there is any residual moisture left in the clay. I find it's easier to build a clay form hollow in the first place than to attempt to hollow it out afterwards, but both methods will work. It is possible to build an interior support system- using clay slabs joined together and weakened sufficiently bycutting out voids in them- so that they will crack before the skin of clay that covers them. Another approach would be to make a combustible support structure using excelsior or another somewhat flexible material- what you don't want to do is trap anything rigid, that will not move when the clay shrinks, since this will cause cracking.

The key to making armatures for pottery figures, etc, is accounting for the shrinkage of the clay during hardening. For small pieces, a method I've used is to build a "skeleton" in heavy aluminum wire, then wrapping newspaper around the wire somewhat loosely, so the clay can contract without cracking. When the figure is set to leather-hard, cut the piece longitudinally to remove the armature, then score and use slip to rejoin the pieces. Alternatively, one can build the skeleton out of a light wood like pine (don't use anything that makes toxic fumes when burned) and leave it in through the firing process, when it burns out. These supports may also be removed before firing if this is practical. For larger pieces, it is best to work in sections, because having further to shrink, the piece will tear itself apart trying to contract against an unyielding internal structure.

As far as the drying process is concerned, one can accelerate this by keeping the piece in a well-heated and ventilated space for a week or so before firing. During the winter, especially in damp places, a thick clay piece will have problems drying thoroughly without some kind of help (like ventilation and heat). One must, of course, make sure the air inside a hollow sculpture is vented to the outside, since a totally enclosed volume of air will expand when heated and crack the piece. It helps to leave the kiln "candling" (at the lowest sustainable heat) for a couple of days before turning it up, to get rid of trace moisture; this helps the pieces inside to fire without exploding.

Once fired to bisque, the clay objects can receive surface treatments of various kinds. It is possible to use "engobe" (colored clay slip) before firing, but most other techniques work better on once-fired pieces. Potters have worked out numerous formulae for glazes, which are combinations of ground-up minerals applied to the bisqueware by dipping, brushing or spraying and which form a glass coating on the surface of the clay when fired to the correct temperature. These may be bought ready-mixed at ceramic supply outlets, or they can be concocted from scratch. In either case, it is advisable to test the glaze on a sample of the clay it will be used with before using it on a large amount of work. Glaze can be applied
directly to the bisque surface, which should be rinsed clean and free of dust , or over an "underglaze" composed of metal oxide colorants in a clay binder. These are available in pans like watercolors, tinted to approximate the final color. Also, one can get underglaze chalks and pencils. After the glaze firing, it is possible to use "overglazes", also called "lusters" and "china paints", to achieve various effects from suble color changes to metallic accents. These are fired to a much lower temperature than the glaze itself.

A thick glaze can tend to obscure fine details in sculptural objects, but it also can hide minor surface eccentricities. If the detail, especially fine negative texture, is important, then the glaze is best applied thin. If it is to be accentuated, then stains or underglazes can be applied and then sponged off the high spots before being covered by the glaze. Areas of the surface can be protected with a "wax resist", a waxy solution that, once dry, resists the further application of glaze. Various firing techniques will also influence the final effect. Raku, where red-hot objects are removed from a kiln (frontloader only) and confined in a sealed space with combustible material to create a reducing atmosphere, blackens
any exposed clay, while metal oxides in the glaze can reduce to the metallic state for irridescent and metallic effects. Pit firing, where the ware is literally buried in a pit, in the middle of a fire, also blackens
the surface, while preserving the effects of burnishing.

If the ceramic objects in question are not to be used for food, don't need to sit outdoors, and archivalness is not a concern, just about any paint can be used on them. Any of these constraints limit ones options. On bisqueware, the main problem is the absorbancy of the clay body, which will suck the color and solvents out of the brush and leave craters on the surface, also impairing the ability for the paint to form a film. Try sealing the surface with progressively less dilute coats of (waterbase) gesso or use shellac. Once the surface has been sealed, one can paint with just about any paint - I've seen oil paints used very effectively. Alternatively, to darken the surface somewhat and give a little shine, try rubbing on some shoepolish, then rubbing off the excess. If the piece must survive outdoors; mix some cement colors with some portland cement and water, then apply as a wash to your (unprimed) bisque surface. Any waxes or sealers will have to be renewed periodically if the piece is left outdoors.

Some clay resources follow:

• http://art.sdsu.edu/ceramicsweb/ Links to ceramics online and glaze calculation software
• http://www.leslieceramics.com/ My favorite ceramics supply outlet now has a website. They sell nearly everything to do with ceramics.
• http://hometown.aol.com/BabsDeluxe/ceramics.htm: Babs has a great collection of ceramics-related links
• http://www.amaco.com/ : American Art Clay is one of the oldest companies in the business.

Andrew Werby, born in 1952, started making ceramic sculpture while in elementary school. At the University of California at Berkeley he started becoming involved in the technique of lost-wax bronze casting, which Peter Voulkos and others were reviving as a skill for artists to master directly, in
contrast to the then-usual practice of consigning a macquette to a professional foundry for enlargement, molding, and casting.

Andrew is a contributing editor to WetCanvas!, and can be reached via email at drewid@lanminds.com. Be sure to visit his official web site!