Fig. 560.—Put the outside edges together.
Fig. 561.—Useful in cutting the clay.
When you are
Ready for Work
take out a good sized lump of clay, put it on a pastry board and knead it like bread. This is to work out all the air and make the grain close and fine. If the clay seems too stiff spread it out in a flat cake, pour a little water in the middle, bring the edges together and knead again until the whole piece is softened. When the clay is too soft spread it out and put it in the air where it will soon stiffen. If it is freezing out of doors do not expose the clay but let it dry off in the house. From time to time, while you are working the clay, cut the lump in two with a palette knife or ordinary table knife (A, B, [Fig. 559]). Put the outside edges together (C, D, [Fig. 560]) and continue kneading. The professional potter has a wire strung above his table and on it cuts his clay quickly and neatly in half, but a knife will answer very well. You may have a number of
Modelling Tools
or a few, and you can do very well with two or three contrived by yourself. A wire tool like [Fig. 561] is useful in cutting away the clay when the walls of a piece are too thick, but a wire hairpin answers the purpose almost as well. A wooden skewer, used by butchers for pinning meat, is also good for some purposes. In my own work one summer, when far out of reach of modelling tools, I found use for a palette knife, the handle of an old spoon, a hairpin and a steel ink eraser with a curved blade. But best of all and most to be depended upon are the fingers, for these sensitive, flexible, natural tools can perform most of the work alone. [Fig. 562] is a small jar made entirely with the hands, no tool of any kind, save the fingers, having been used in the modelling. You should have a good
Strong Table,