Response Saturday: Clay Crisis

 I haven't had any time this week to play with non-clay materials for Response Saturday.  See, I have had a bit of a clay crisis.  I went to pick up some clay from my regular supplier, which I do about twice a year.  We just happened to be passing by on our way to Ohio, and I had just used up all my porcelain and even processed my scrap, so it was perfectly timed.  Unfortunately, they didn't have my regular clay, a very fine grolleg porcelain.  Frustrated, I picked up 50 lbs of their production porcelain.  This week, I broke into it and started to use it.  I discovered that I really dislike this clay for beadmaking. My supplier is also the manufacturer of my porcelain, and a phone call discovered that they would be out for several weeks.  Ouch.  So I am looking for an alternative and I think I have found one, luckily.  We just happened to order some clay and slip to play with from Matt and Dave's Clays and the clay I got seems to be a good match to my usual.  Whew!  I still have to see how it sands and fires, but I am optimistic.

So I am left with 50lbs of this clay that I don't like. It's not a bad clay, just not good for my usual techniques.  It will likely get used up by someone in this house. Also, I rolled out 4 slabs of it, which I need to use up before it dries up.  I mentioned that I ordered some slip from Matt and Dave's, so I tried a few pendants with it.  I think I am going to spend the afternoon using the slabs to make very simple cutout circle and square links and play around with the slip to make pendants like the ones I experimented with above.  I really don't have time for an afternoon of experimentation, but I am going to go ahead and take it while the opportunity strikes.  Happy Saturday, everyone!

Melanie is an artist, blogger, writer, and ceramic beadmaker at Earthenwood Studio. Her beads and components can be found at her Etsy shop and her jewelry can be found in her Etsy Galleria. To comment on this post, visit the original post at the Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Blog.