Pottery and Clay Modelling?

Question

I am looking at fulfilling a lifetime ambition of making quirky one off pots, plates, ornaments, jugs vases, ashtrays and all sorts of weird and wonderful nik naks - all in clay. I don't have much money to throw at this as it will start as a hobby, and hopefully if it gains enough momentum I can sell things locally or on ebay and maybe have enough money for a kiln. My question is therefore how can I get started and what''s the best type of clay to use and without a kiln but using an oven or outside gas barbecue barbecue (which can heat up to 800degrees - not sure if this is celcius or farenheit)?

Answer 1

If you're interested in using polymer clays, you need only a low-temp regular oven --regular or toaster oven (at approx. 265-275 F, for 15-45 minutes). (Polymer clay can be cured in more unusual ways too . . . a kiln would burn it to a powder though, and is never used.)

Quite large things can be made with polymer clays, but they're not usually thicker than 1 1/4" unless there's an armature underneath or they're made "hollow." All the things you mentioned could be made from polymer clay, but the plates couldn't be eaten off of directly (could put the clay on the back side of a glass plate though). Polymer clay is certainly good for all kinds of "weird and wonderful" knick knacks and is often used for those kinds of things. It can also be used to make things which are equisitely elegant, simple and cute, or just any way at all... depends entirely on the maker.

If you want to find out about baking polymer clay, or virtually any other things about polymer clay, check out my online polymer clay encyclopedia for loads of lessons, info, examples, etc..
This is the Table of Contents page:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/contents.htm
(...to browse, just scroll all the way down... when you find a page you'd like to investigate, click on its name from inside the alphabetical navigation bar on the left side of the page to go to it)
Here's a direct link to just the Baking page:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/baking.htm


(P.S. common brand names of "polymer clay" are Premo, FimoClassic, Kato Polyclay, Cernit, FimoSoft, and Sculpey III, etc.)



HTH,

Diane B.

Answer 2

The minimum temperature to fire clay at all depends on the type of clay you have. As far as I know there aren't any alternatives to using a kiln, though you only need it once. There are alternatives for the second time you would fire it with the glaze, but that just means no glaze. Natural clay needs a minimum of 1000 deg C to fire Some fine mixtures need higher temperatures ( the china type mixtures) There are hobby alternatives but will not give the same feel and look as real pottery The second link shows a shop that supplies Air drying clays and gives some idea of their properties

Answer 3

you cant make food grade items without using real clay and a kiln. you need to get at least 1200 degrees and more usually 1800 for food grade clays, either find someone with a kiln that you can rent or just foget it.nick nacks start with polymer clay, that may do the trick for you anyway, you just put it in a medium temp oven.

Answer 4

Fimo, sculpey and polymer clay can all be baked in the oven and are great to work with.
Good luck in your new venture