Home made Claybord

Home made claybord using Kayolin clay and PVA glue.

[@alfagerup]

Hi Steve. Thank You VERY MUCH, for showing us this great lesson, in making clay bords 👍😊 Best regards from Denmark

[@nonpourquoi8705]

@Steve Gathercole Cheers Steve! Could you kindly list all the ingredients you’ve used in the clay mixture, as well as the type of board you’ve used for the base? (May I also suggest that it may be good to put all this, as well as a brief, timestamped outline of the process, in either a pinned comment or the video description?)

[@bloomarine8459]

Thanks great video, glad to learn

[@lisafayepranger8561]

useful!! TY!!

[@TheNotoriousNemo]

thank you for this, i needed to repair some clayboard i bought

[@tracyclements5507]

Thanks for sharing your how to. I am looking forward to giving this a try as claybord is hard to come by - and expensive in South Africa.

[@stevegathercole6307]

Thank you, try experimenting with the ratio of glue to powder to get the 'hardness' you are happy with, different types if pva glue also affect the mix.

[@PENFOLD1962]

A brilliant video, this will save me load's of money. A few QUESTIONS if you don't mind! 1. Would Gesso be OK to seal & coat the board before the coats of Kayolin to help it adhere? 2. Can MDF boards be used? 3. Can a mixture of Isopropanol alcohol, Distilled water and 15 drop's of Vegetable Glycerine be used instead of the water in the PVA mixture? Thank you for sharing this video 👍😷👍

[@louisesellebjerg4360]

Have any tried to use alcohol ink on this homemade clayboard surface???

[@HeleneBlonsky]

Hi Steve, do you sand between each layer or just at the end of applications? Thanks in advance!

[@stevegathercole6307]

Hi, I sand between each layer especially if I have added extra glue to make the mix 'harder'

[@jacquipexton]

Hi, I bought the board you suggested and bought fine kaolin and pva glue but I put a couple of coats on slightly sanded it but it’s peeling off. Do you think I should have gesso the board first. Hope you can help.

[@stevegathercole6307]

Hi, I give the board a good sanding with coarse grit sanding paper (100 grit), you can see the scratch Mark's fyom the sanding, this gives a good key for the mix , sounds like your mix hasn't keyed to the board surface.

[@norwardradtke1361]

scuff the surface with 100 grit paper like he said, you need more surface area adhesion. Its like your brain. The more bumps and craters the surface has the more surface area it has to bind to, as opposed to a flat surface. That's why potters will scour and scratch cross hatch patterns into pieces they join together.

[@renatevandongen5284]

Hey Steve, how do I apply the clay without getting brush marks/lines texture? Tips would be very much appreciated. Thanks Renate

[@stevegathercole6307]

Hi, I get plenty of brush marks :-) just sand them flat with 400 grit after each layer then 800 on final coat

[@renatevandongen5284]

@@stevegathercole6307 thanks for your quick response!

[@lauradennis3113]

Hi Steve, thanks for uploading this. I was wondering if this type of homemade clay bord is suitable for watercolour? I'm looking for a substitue for an Aquabord pannel which is a type of textured-clay bord that can withstand a fair amount of watercolour flooding.

[@stevegathercole6307]

Laura Dennis , all I use is water based paints (acrylic) with my airbrush on this surface, works great .

[@lauradennis3113]

Steve Gathercole thank you for your super quick response! I'll experiment and see if it holds good for watercolour too :)

[@louisesellebjerg4360]

Hi Laura... just currious… did you experinced with the watercolour on this homemade surface….?As I write above I am looking for at surface for alcohol ink - and I guess if it is suitable for watercolour perhaps it is too for alcohol ink….

[@lauradennis3113]

Hey Louise, from a couple of experiments Steve's recipe does work for watercolour but it's a little tricky to really manipulate the paint. The high absorbency of the clay means that the colour is sucked up super quick which makes it pretty tricky to move and manipulate as you would on a traditional paper. The surface can also go a little 'milky' as the water lifts some of the clay up. I would imagine the alcohol ink would have a similar effect, as in it would be absorbed pretty quickly which might mean getting a smooth wash will be difficult but you would get the added benefit of being able to scratch and lift up the ink. If you look at the info on Ampersands claybord there are loads of tips on how a clay surface works ( try this link ampersandart.com/claybord.php ) and this recipe is a pretty close match to the pre-bought clay pannels available from art retailers. It's glass-like surface would also be great for inks. That said, after a lot of research I think I found a recipe that is close to the Aquabord ( a specialist claybord that is design specifically for watercolour) and so I will get back to you on whether it works as it might be handy for alcohol inks as it should (hopefully, in theory!) hold water floods better than the smooth clay pannel Steve's video :)

[@stevegathercole6307]

Don't forget you can also increase the amount of glue used to reduce how absorbant the surface is.

[@jacquipexton]

Clay board is sooo expensive so I want to know what wood to use.

[@norwardradtke1361]

MDF medium density fiberboard. Or HDF high density fiberboard. I've found both of these at my local hardware store. Ampersand isn't secretive about the boards they use and you could have easily read that in any of their product descriptions ;)

[@louisesellebjerg4360]

Hi again Steve... your PVA Glue.... do you have a link to this - where you buy it... can't really see the brand..... is it on ebay?

[@stevegathercole6307]

Hi, I got the glue from our local Hobbycraft shop , www.hobbycraft.co.uk/craft-pva-glue-300ml/590877-1000 but have also used craft pva glue in a larger and cheaper bottle from 'The Range' in our area. Hope this helps :-)

[@louisesellebjerg4360]

Thanks Steve :-)

[@louisesellebjerg4360]

One last question… you use some white powder to give it the white look.... is that something like this? www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Titanium-Dioxide-100g-2kg/222577796324?hash=item33d2aba4e4:m:mL_tpLp3ZygqKw4Y_RJKlcw

[@janetholmes615]

just one issue I have with powder clay dust...silicone and lung issues? Do you need to wear a mask when you are working with this medium?

[@janetholmes615]

sorry i mean Silica in the kaolin clay

[@stevegathercole6307]

@@janetholmes615 hi, its not that 'dusty ' it doesn't seem to generate airborne dust when mixing .

[@janetholmes615]

@@stevegathercole6307 thankyou for your reply... it's great to know how to make a substrate in the dimensions you want and cheaper! Cheers

[@mazartistry]

Where did you get the clay powder from please?

[@stevegathercole6307]

Maria Smith , I got the powder from eBay, just make sure you get the fine powder. m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kaolin-White-Clay-Powder-1kg-500g-250g-200g-100g-50g-25g/122332524248?NAV=HOME&varId=422818928152

[@mazartistry]

Brilliant! Thanks Steve

[@stevegathercole6307]

Maria Smith , I got the clay from eBay m.ebay.co.uk/orderDetails?itemId=122332524248

[@jacquipexton]

What wood are you using please.

[@stevegathercole6307]

Hi, I use 3mm hardboard from the diy shop, the type with a white coating on one side normally used for the bottom of drawers etc. The white coating acts as a primer, I just sand it a little to make a key for the clay board mix

[@jacquipexton]

@@stevegathercole6307 Thank you so much for your quick response. And thanks for the video.

[@jacquipexton]

I may not have used enough clay and too much pva

[@ruthgunneson-poling1571]

Great video with the exception of how it was transcripted. It's terrible. Random words and sentences happen 99.99.99% the whole time. I don't know who transcribed your video but it's terrible. Now, back to you. You're very good at demonstration regardless of the glitches I've mentioned. Your using the term white board (I think) that you buy at the hardware store. Is that what we call masonite here in the US?