Timing your work
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Timing your work
Usually we can only do so much to a form until we need to let it dry a bit in order to finish it. Clay dries to a point where it becomes stiff but still has a somewhat malleable surface. This is what we call the leather hard state. Leather hard clay retains the wet clay color and will yield when gouged or scraped with a fingernail. At this stage the clay is firm enough to handle but not as fragile as when it's fully dry, so it's usually best to finish or refine when the piece is leather hard. Finishing means cleaning up seams, surfaces, and edges to give our work a polished look. Sloppy joints, leftover scoring marks, and jagged cut edges are the stuff of which Cs and Ds are made. Coarsely treated clay can be quite expressive and appealing, but if you choose to work this way be aware that there is a very fine line between being spontaneous and being a slob. If you're not sure what the difference is, keep your work clean for now and come back to explore this later.
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