9. Clay Curls

Another thing I discovered about the nature of clay.

Something so obvious that I had never thought about it.

Clay naturally likes to dry in thinnish  curves.

You have noticed that when clay dries in the hot summer sun on the river bottom--the clay cracks in fairly small, fairly thin pieces--not quite geometrical patterns--but also not very large "plates", and you have also noticed that the clay shards curl up, toward the heat source--the sun--slightly at the edges.


 Dishes, cups. pots, vases--BIG vases--all the most useful ceramic objects --except tiles--are round or roundish. And all the most common flat objects made of clay--like tiles--are usually small or smallish, because clay likes to curl up as it dries! And almost all ceramic objects have fairly uniformly thin "walls".


I  think most potters grasp these facts early on and intuitively--but if they come at the craft like  I did--not knowing  a thing about it--they will discover by trial and error these interesting facts because everything they try to make too big or too flat or too thick WILL crack as it dries---even if it dries VERY slowly.

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