working with clay

Here are my notes on working with clay to make the Turtle Art designed - 3D printed impression shown above. See the link at the bottom for the back story. My first template was 7.5mm high. I experimented by reducing the height to 2mm so as to reduce printing time. I'm happy with 2mm but you need a pair of pliers to remove the template from the clay.

• air drying clay – wrap in gladwrap after using and place into an air tight container
• Plastic mat - bought at Woolies after failing to find wax (water resistant) paper
• 3D printed template – to make an impression in the clay, 90mm x 90mm x 2mm high
• square perimeter template to neatly cut out around the clay 95mm x 95mm x 10mm

• rolling pin – bought at Coles – I try to roll the clay to 6mm thickness – what I’m missing is a couple of wooden guides at the side 6mm thick, see the pic from the Turtle Art Tiles Project Guide ->
• Sharp knives – I used the smaller one to cut the clay packet and the larger one to trim the edges after I had applied the square perimeter template
• Pliers – I needed these to remove the 3D printed template from the clay after I had made the impression
• Tweezers – I used these to tidy up some raised sections of clay after I had made the impression
• Water – I didn’t use water this time but handy if you have to join sections of clay together. But since our clay work is so simple – just roll a slab of clay to 6mm thickness it normally won’t be needed – if you have to join separate bits of clay just roll them together vigorously and then flatten it out with hand and rolling pin
• Scraper – I used this to remove the clay from the mat after I had made the impression

Related: Turtle Art Tiles Project