Bronz Clay....what else

I finally pulled out the tools and opened up a package of BRONZ Clay. I wish I could be more organized. My workspace always ends up looking like a pig sty. This is my dining room table. Luckily we don't eat here much.

I seem to be repeating things that I made in class. Sometimes it's hard to get the creative ideas flowing so remaking things helps me loosen up. What I love about this clay is that it likes to be manipulated. It comes out of the package feeling a little "parched". So I spray it with water, dab a little oil on it, knead it and roll it up in saran wrap to "marinate". The more I do this the better the consistency and the easier it is to work with. The other thing I like is that I can work with thicker pieces and not worry about being able to recoup the cost in the finshed piece. I've always had a tendency to work thicker...5 to 4 cards rather than 4 to 3. Now I can make big hunky, chucky pieces and not feel guilty. One problem I notice during drying is that it can develop stress fractures if the clay is stuck to the surface it is resting on. I had a large piece drying on a teflon sheet and it was stuck on the sheet because the back of the piece was still wet. It cracked in two pieces along a design line. So now after about 5 minutes I move the pieces to unstick them. I'm trying to hold off firing until I make enough to fill the kiln but I just might have to fire it up anyway.