Pottery - Bone Dry to Soft Clay in 15 Minutes or Less

[@angiebonestroo3866]

Love the video! You are my go-to lady for my thorniest pottery issues. And, love that t-shirt!

[@fruitlessbeast]

I stumbled across this video a few months ago and tried this method of several 25# bags of bone dry clay. I'm very happy to report this works famously. I went from bone dry to thrown bowls in a couple of hours. Thank you for the excellent and useful tip!

[@ElGatoLoco698]

Using the water in the bucket to push the air out of the bag? Genius! That's one of those things that makes me say, why didn't I think of that. A simple and elegant solution to an age old problem. Gotta remember that one.

[@EvolutionStoneware]

I'm with you! I thought the same thing when Florence first told me about this technique. :)

[@johnagorman]

I agree completely. Brilliant idea. Also, leaving the piece in the water for the uniform water pressure is inspired.

[@diegaah]

Yes, mighty genius!

[@cactusbaboon321]

The dancing seals the deal in my opinion. Absolutely love your ideas and tips!

[@EvolutionStoneware]

heeheee, if I remember correctly, the Pet Shop Boys came on the radio. I couldn't resist! You've gotta keep the joy in life. :)

[@smudigere]

Thank you for this video. Long message below .. but felt like posting this message on how you helped me. I live in India and we have a festival celebrating Lord Ganesha, where we buy clay Ganesha, worship and immerse it in water after worship. I'm not a potter, but have been making my own Ganesha for a few years now. Thanks to Covid19, I couldn't source clay this year. But had a block of super dry rock hard clay. Thanks to your video, I was able to soften the clay and mould a Ganesha. 🙏🙏🙏

[@EvolutionStoneware]

@smudigere Thank you so much for your note! That touched me hearing your story. ❤ You never know the full extent of how we can touch each other's lives from so far away. I'm truly glad this helped you. Wishing you wellness & wellbeing. 🙏 Thank you again for taking the time to write. 😊 You brightened my day.

[@smudigere]

Very true. It is an important festival for us and your video helped me salvage some old left over hardened clay and make a ganesha in time. Purpose of your video was so different and was posted long back. Yet it was so useful to me now in 2020 🙂 Thanks again. Please keep making such videos to share your knowledge. I felt that it was my duty thank you and share my story. Glad to have brought some brightness to you during these hard times across the globe.

[@rogergarcia3021]

Love the half-time show, and the advice. Good video. Thanks

[@Natalieleu]

Thanks for this video. I have moved my studio and have approx. 250 lbs of rock hard clay to rehydrate, I didn't know exactly how I was going to accomplish it. Now I do.

[@EvolutionStoneware]

I'm glad this helped! For large blocks of clay check out this video: Pottery - Rehydrating Hard Clay the Easy Way Part 2 kzbin.info/www/bejne/eWeXmYmgib1rl80

[@catherinekuhle1859]

Thank you this video was very helpful I had a lot of dry clay that needed to get softened again

[@joanroberts9801]

Great quick and easy solution to re-hydrating clay. Thank you so much!

[@castleofcostamesa8291]

Awesome! Just what we need this morning! Thank you for your tip!

[@robertcombs1518]

Excellent!!!! Thank you for sharing that . Liked also the way you got the air out!! You always are thinking for us and I liked your tool for checking the clay thickness in the bottom..speeds up the process.. ((:

[@arnoldhoward2076]

The kiln on the left looks like the one I worked on. It was at a remote Texas ranch. The Kiln Sitter was tiny. I rebuilt the Kiln Sitter because the plate on the front was bent.

[@EvolutionStoneware]

Oh goodness, that sounds like a difficult repair! That shorty kiln on the left is a Skutt built in the late 60s! I've redone all the wiring in it, & it still works like a champ. The sitter on mine is standard size. I've had to replace the rod, but the external parts are good on it.

[@johnagorman]

Worth watching just for the dance moves! 😁

[@kellysnider5138]

I so needed this yesterday lol - great to know for the future! Thanks! :)

[@macknickelson4866]

Genius idea using water and bucket to almost vacuum sealing the clay. I imagine hot water would work faster yet.

[@elunedmoseley2269]

Brilliant ! - especially the dancing !!!!!!!!!!!! x

[@julipolito7761]

Janis! Thank you for sharing! 👍

[@SusanKempartist]

Oh my, I'm all smiles!

[@clementramon8589]

Nice! Very clever. Thank you.

[@andreanaranjo1655]

Thank you! This is perfect!

[@noahhaenel8441]

im a begginer and i just got a little set and i used it for first time and then forgot to put the clay away(stupid '-')anyway this really helped thank u soo much!!!!!!

[@Guruc13]

This is awesome! Thank you

[@sandricabello2608]

thank you, just what i needed to know! Cheers

[@losinyen3011]

Thank you. That helps a lot.

[@cmw420]

i’m in love

[@rjsongwriter]

Pretty cool!

[@izzy2773]

Life saver

[@EvolutionStoneware]

I'm so glad it helped!

[@edstud1]

I love this video!

[@gregandmellissastephens166]

My clay I very stiff right out of the package. Too stiff to wedge. Will this work for my needs?

[@triciac1019]

Sometimes if you drop the whole bag of clay on the floor several times, it loosens it up and makes it more pliable. It has to do with the additives they put into it. It releases them.

[@capricecannon8547]

Awesomeness!!! 💙☺️👍🏾

[@beautifulinfinity]

Thank you for this video. When I searched, all I found initially were these five year olds or their gnarly parents putting lotion, oil and whatnot into clay

[@STUNTHEINSECT]

I have like three blocks of solid clay I never used and I want to make them usable again, so how do I do it? I see you hydrating a flat piece, but these are blocks, so... I don't know what to do to avoid messing up, break it into pieces?

[@EvolutionStoneware]

I have a different video for that! It's easy peasy. You don't eed to break the clay up. Just add 1 cup of water per 25 pounds of clay, & submerge the bag in a bucket of water for about a week. kzbin.info/www/bejne/eWeXmYmgib1rl80

[@radakrishnakundapur6113]

Really worked !!!!!! 👍👍

[@EvolutionStoneware]

:)

[@sifouniospottery]

Excellent video my friend.Thumbs up :) Sifoutv Pottery

[@popcorntime9846]

OMG I have clay but I dont wana buy ny I found a block f it in my shelf thx u so much I almost trow it out xD

[@barneyerror6375]

I have a question, one of my biggest pieces broke, it was a shape of a humanoid being, I was able to get the two legs(they are big and hollow but aren’t connected after the fall, can I still rehydrate those two to save myself some time?

[@josephdupont]

I was told that when you add water to dry clay it it Heats up. Is that true?

[@EvolutionStoneware]

I'm not sure. I haven't noticed that.

[@rogergarcia3021]

Have.missed you hope you and your s are doing well

[@genearnold3252]

Can you use this method on clay scrapes? Say fill a bag with about 25 lbs of bone dry scrap add water and submerge in the dice gallon bucket

[@EvolutionStoneware]

Gene Arnold - hi Gene, I haven't tried that, but I have thought about it. With all the airspace between scraps, I'm not sure how hard it will be to get the water to absorb evenly. It works great for small pieces or solid 20lb blocks of clay. If you give it a try with a bag of scraps, let us know what happens.

[@litebluegrey]

could you post a video of you testing the texture of the clay, I'm afraid I'm not getting the right consistency, plz thx

[@EvolutionStoneware]

litebluegrey Try experimenting with adding less water to the clay and checking it after different amounts of time to figure out what works for your clay. Every case will be different depending on the thickness of your piece, the overall weight of the clay, and even the type of clay you're using. I wouldn't try it on a hollow form like a cup. You'll need to experiment a bit. Hope that helps get you going in the right direction.

[@marsywilde7761]

Thank youu ^^

[@mrsaye499]

thank you!

[@68868s]

Help! I am an elementary school teacher. We are doing more clay on Thursday. All of the large 25 lb blocks of No. 20 Versa Clay are too hard to work with. I don't know what to do.

[@fireflyexposed]

She's done one of those already. same concept - clay in the bag, 3/4 cup water - submerge in a bucket of water (make sure your packet is tightly sealed so the water from the bucket deosn't get into your bag) ... wait 2 weeks and done.

[@La_abbess]

Hi thank you for the videos, can you share how to properly dry large pieces of greenware as well? Thanks.

[@EvolutionStoneware]

The most important thing is try dry them slowly over the course of a week or even 2 depending on how large they are. Use plastic to drape over them. You may want to uncover the pieces for an hour or 2 at a time, but be sure to cover the driest sections with plastic in order for the piece to dry as evenly as possible. If 1 part dries much faster than another there is an increased chance of cracking.

[@yeseniaortega1175]

Do we use hot water

[@EvolutionStoneware]

You don't need too. Room temperature water is fine.

[@desertblbuesman]

Cool.

[@scramptillionsclaunchkin7320]

can u rehydrate fired clay?

[@EvolutionStoneware]

No. It goes through an irreversible chemical change when fired.

[@td6471]

is it necesssary that ther is no air in the plasticbag?

[@EvolutionStoneware]

It works best with no air in order to press the water inside the bag in contact with all surfaces of the clay and help it absorb evenly.

[@Faisal-ds1kb]

Can I use glue wood with my clay ? So i do not need to fire it.

[@EvolutionStoneware]

Traditional clay must be fired to be durable.

[@marafly4181]

I have this clay project... And it's completely dry... It's been like this for about a month... Will this method still work.. it's not baked yet

[@EvolutionStoneware]

It's hard to say without knowing more about your form. What kind of changes do you want to make to it? If it's a wheel thrown pot that never got trimmed & has a rough bottom, you may be able to rehydrate the bottom enough to clean it up by sitting the pot on a stack of wet newspaper pages for 15 minutes to a half hour. You'll need to monitor it. If you let it sit there too long the bottom may fall off the pot.

[@consuelo4663]

hi there is it possible to use slipping casting as a normal slip for decorating instead of the normal procedure?? what can happen ? I rund out of normal slip (white ) and had a bit of white slipcasting so I covered the indise of my leatherhard bowl in order to decorate. Please advise much appreciated cheers

[@EvolutionStoneware]

It might work. There are a lot of variables. A big one that will impact the compatibility is the shrinkage rate of your clay & the shrinkage rate of your casting slip. I hope it works out!

[@consuelo4663]

@@EvolutionStoneware thanks you for your reply clay work is always an adventure so lets see what happens cheers anyway

[@leleenpretorius5213]

Hello. I tried this method, 😭 but it did not work. Is this method OK on air dry clay. I'm unsure what I did wrong as steps very simple.??

[@EvolutionStoneware]

Hi Leleen. I work with stoneware clay which requires kiln firing to make a shape permanent. I don't know about air dry clay. If it didn't absorb any water, you might not be able to soften it once it's hardened.

[@edelgyn2699]

I had to work with air dried clay on one project and I found that breaking up the clay into smaller pieces, soaking and then reworking the (eight year old) clay was acceptable to make small trinket dishes for my grand kids. Air dried clay seems a less flexible medium than clay used in pottery, so good luck to anyone who needs to rehydrate that stuff it felt awful...

[@StuninRub]

how is this any different then just dropping it in a bucket?

[@EvolutionStoneware]

Zhida Zhou This is the same technique I showed for dehydrating a whole block of clay in the bucket. The difference here is that if you have a small piece of clay you want to rehydrate you can do it very quickly - 15 minutes as opposed to several days for 25 pounds at a time. It's convenient if you want to don't want to remake a small piece you made that accidentally dried out before you used it - like a handle. In the past I always thought I had to start over when that happened, but it is possible to quickly get a small dry piece back to working consistency. ☺

[@bean3702]

Can this be used with polymer clqy

[@EvolutionStoneware]

I'm not sure as I don't work with polymer clay. If you try it, please let us know.

[@dongee1664]

Put your hard clay in a plastic bag and drop a little water in it. Seal the bag and put it in a bucket of water for 15 minutes. Just saved you 6 minutes.

[@stickermigtigger]

Chop 25 lbs into 2 to 4" pieces, toss a layer in flat tub, wet, layer, wet, layer.... till all in, cover with plastic, put lid on tub, wedge in 24 hours.

[@triciac1019]

If you read in the comments, other people asked about that, she tells of a much easier way to rehydrate 25 pounds of heart dry clay.

[@recepdemir7946]

l read this "soft clay to bone dry in 15 min" l watching excitingly but oh noo. disappointed me.my bad eng .

[@LockStoppageSandwich]

Noice

[@ollie2257]

Bitch that’s so clever, but I have a 12.5kg bag that’s not quite bone dry, I’ve poured water in and sealed it up but does it matter if there’s air in the bag? Will it cause part of it to hydrate quicker and will cause cracks?

[@janetjilote6495]

You are FUNNY!

[@structlightning]

I like the tips but...why the dance tho?😂😂😂

[@sarasadek6590]

why not

[@roasting2gamers485]

karonavirus hai ram