Take Home Kit Instructions- Keychain


1. Materials Included

  • Stoneware clay (cone 6 Mid Smooth Speckled clay)
  • Sponge
  • Glaze
  • Slip
  • Paint brushes
  • Scoring/molding tools
  • Nichrome wire (heat resistant)
  • Keychain
  • Materials Needed: Water, any tools that will be useful (i.e. spoons, forks, bowls, molds, rolling pin, canvas, ruler, banding wheel)


2. Preparing Your Clay

  1. Your clay is pre-wedged and ready to use.
  2. Moisten as needed: Stoneware should be soft but not sticky. If it’s dry, add a little water and work it into the clay. 


3. Choose Your Handbuilding Technique

Technique 1: Sculpt

Since you are making something small, you can simply sculpt it! 

Make sure to not make it too thick, if you want a thick creation,  create it hollow and add a hole so gasses can exit during firing (this will help prevent explosion)

If you want to attach pieces, make sure to rough up both sides of the pieces being joined together and use a little slip as glue

Technique 2: Slab Building

Perfect for boxes, trays, mugs, and angular or structured items.

Steps:

    1. Roll out clay into an even slab (~1/4” thick) using a rolling pin
    2. Let slabs rest briefly to firm up to leather-hard (less floppy).
    3. Cut shapes with a needle tool using templates or rulers.
    4. Score and slip edges before joining slabs. 
    5. Use a rib or hands to compress and smooth seams.
    6. Reinforce corners from the inside if needed.
    7. Add details like texture, handles, or feet once the form is assembled.


4. Adding your wire, Drying and Finishing

  • Shove the provided wire into your piece where you'd like the keychain to attach. Do this before it gets dry.
  • Next, let your piece dry slowly and evenly to avoid cracks.
  • You can cover your piece in plastic if you plan to work on it again later.

5. Painting

  • Paint your piece with the glazes provided. DO NOT use any regular paint or other glazes as this will lead to damage to your piece and/or the kiln.
  • Coat your piece with 2-3 layers of glaze, letting it dry in between coats. 
  • You can mix glaze colours to achieve other colours.


6. Bringing back to studio

  • Once fully dry (bone dry) bring you item back to the Mud Shop for bisque and glaze firing. Make sure to put your email on the box provided.
  • Transport items carefully
  • Give reception your email to ensure you will be notified when your items are ready for pick up. 


✅ Tips for Success

  • Work in stages: don't rush drying or joining.
  • Experiment with texture tools (leaves, stamps, fabrics).
  • Don’t add too much moisture to your piece. Reserve damp sponge for smoothing out pieces after they are set a little bit.
  • Cover your piece in plastic if you want to return to it and work on it later.
  • If you feel stuck, look up tutorials. There are tons of great resources online!

 

ATTACHING THINGS:

When you attach two pieces of clay you must score the clay on BOTH sides and add slip. Slip acts as glue but it will not stick without scoring.