Caulking Tool Useful for Hand-Building with Clay
Caulk tool
I found this caulking tool at Home Depot a few weeks ago and as I was building a covered stoneware clay box the other day, I remembered to test it out. The box was constructed using stiff slabs of clay – and by stiff, I mean leather hard and not pliable. I use paper clay slip to join the mitered edges, and then force clay coils into the joints for added strength and to cut down on cracking. The rubber tip on the end of the caulk tool worked really well and it was much faster and left a really clean area. You just never know when a tool designed for something else will work when making items out of clay. The tool was less than $5, and I’m not quite sure how I can use the other tool – the caulk remover?
Here’s the step by step:
Testing a different top
After I finished making the box, I decided to try making a domed type of top for the box mainly, because I didn’t have enough sides to complete the box and I needed to close it up. I rolled out some fresh clay and then place it on top of the box and gently forced the center down slightly. I let it set up for about an hour and then trimmed it to size, scored it, added paper clay slip and closed the box.
Rounded pillow top
Here is it closed up after which I covered it with plastic and am letting it rest and dry some more. Today, I plan on cleaning up the edges and will add feet and cut off a lid. The box will finish drying until it’s time to be bisque fired.
Speaking of bisque firing, I must run now and load the kiln and fire the work from my kid’s class so that it will be ready for Tuesday’s class. I work on a really short time schedule – the kids make the work on Tuesday, and I fire it on Sundays (normally). It tells me that I could dry and fire my work significantly faster than I was taught to do.
Enjoy the rest of Sunday,
~Cynthia
