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Question: When making a clay sculpture, how does one mould workable clay onto dry clay without it cracking!?
I suppose the only logical solution is to prevent the clay from having gotten dry in the first place, and im now trying a wet towel over my sculpture to get the dry clay a bit more moist, but does someone rather have a better idea for me to try!? Any help would be greatly appreciated!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Is your clay green ware or has it been fired yet!?

Have you tried simply moistening the dry clay with a sponge or wet towel then applying some 'slip' (super mushy clay) to the area so you could work said area into the desired shape and then let it re-dry!.

A good way to keep your clay from drying out in the future is to throw it in a large air-tight container like Tupperware or a glad-box!. If you don't want your sculpture to stay all mushy, you could also just try hanging damp paper towels over your work when you're not playing with it!.

If you're not happy with fine details once you've got your rough shape that you like, you can use a sharp knife, sandpaper or files on dry clay and fine tune your projectWww@QuestionHome@Com

If your clay is cracking you may
- have it too thick (shouldn't be thicker than about an inch, if it's thicker you will need to build it hollow or hollow it out afterwards),

- you might be drying it out too fast (you should wrap your sculpture with plastic e!.g!. garbage bags until you are done whenever you are not working on it, spray clay periodically while working on it)

- you might be modeling with your clay on some core of other material - are you using an armature!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

A damp towel will work!. I prefer to use a spray bottle filled with tap water!.

Give the piece a once over spray!. Wait 5 or 10 minutes check it and spray it again!. Watch not to get it too wet!. keep checking and giving it a light spray about every 10 or 15 minutes

I have made the mistake many times and this will get it back in a workable state

I normally use high fire stonewareWww@QuestionHome@Com

wet the dry clay or give up and start over!. once clay dries, its dry!. depending on what type of clay it is!.Www@QuestionHome@Com