The previous art teacher at one of my schools bought a lot of clay, LOTS of clay. There were boxes stacked everywhere in the closet, including 26 boxes of clay that was not usable, which leaves me to soak and wedge the clay back to a workable consistency. Luckily, a teacher at another school in my district has a wedging table. The plaster bat makes a HUGE difference. It just soaks up the water from the clay. Fortunately, I have a small school. Two boxes down...
My fellow teachers think I'm nuts. I wedge clay by lifting the bag over head and repeatedly dropping on the floor. I've reconditioned clay this way, too, by pouring a cup or two of water directly into the bag and letting it stand until water is soaked up. Add more as needed. When it looks good I drop it.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why, but when they see that bag dropping, everyone wants to get in on the action:)