2nd Grade Clay

colorful fish

What is clay?

Clay is made of very fine particles of

decomposed rock that stick together. Clay particles are smaller than pebbles, sand &

even silt.

Clay forms through a process of weathering & erosion.

It can be found in abundance all around the world.

A great place to look for clay is along the banks of existing or dried up river beds.

This eroding cliff shows many types of soils & rock - areas of clay are circled.

An artist digging for clay

• We can use clay to create many things - including art!

• When clay is wet, it is easy to mold & form. The pieces we create are called greenware.

• Firing is the term for heating clay in a kiln - the special oven used to bake clay.

• The heat from the kiln causes the water to slowly evaporate from the clay, the clay particles bond together & the clay becomes hard.

• We call our kiln fired clay pieces bisque

Greenware to Bisque

KILN

We fire our clay pieces at almost 2000 degrees Fahrenheit!

• What do you think would happen if we fired a glass marble in our high temperature kiln?

• The kiln temperature is so hot it would melt that marble into a puddle of glass!

After 48 hours in the hot kiln, bisque projects are ready for glaze!

• Glaze is the paint used to color clay projects• There are small particles of silica in our colorful

glazes, when they are heated in the kiln they will melt into glass!

Bisque pieces ready to unload from the kiln & glaze.

Vocabulary

Greenware: Unfired clay projects

Bone Dry: Completely air dried clay

Kiln: An oven used for firing clay projects

Bisque: Clay which has been fired once, without glaze

Fire: To heat clay in a kiln

Glaze: Paint used to color clay projects. Glaze turns to glass when fired in a kiln.