8. Patience

I soon learned that time is a very important factor in ceramic work.

The artist must be constantly aware that the clay he is working with is drying as he works. This changes the consistency of the clay which can be a positive or negative thing.

Clay is just dirt after all--but a special kind of rather sticky dirt that will hold a shape as  long  as it has just the right amount of moisture in it. Too much water and it becomes mud and too little and it becomes dry and cracks.

There are deposits of good ceramic clay in the Tuscan hills of Italy and this is why good pottery has been produced here for centuries and wasn't I lucky to find this out and to actually be living at Il Poggio with my own hands in it up to the elbows !

But, back to time. 

When you draw a picture--you draw it and it is done. But when you work on a clay shape you have to be aware that the clay is changing as you work. If you can't finish the project, you must keep the clay in it's proper state of moisture--not too wet--not too dry--until you can work on it again. At Il Poggio we used plastic sheeting or bags around the work in progress to keep the moisture just right.

And when the shape you want is finished it must dry slowly. If it drys too fast the whole thing will crack like you have seen in clay deposits in river beds on hot summer days. Slowly, slowly, catchee monkey--until the whole piece is consistently dry. 

Before it goes into the kiln to be fired, the work must be absolutely, completely dry or it will explode.

So to prepare one  piece for firing might take not just minuts or hours, but days or even weeks. 

And, of course, the first firing is not the end of the process!

Patience is a key to ceramic production.

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