You, yes YOU, will be making some tools this year! They are super easy, and super handy, and SUPER cheap! Yay! We love saving money, right? Here are a few things for you to start looking for NOW:
- wooden sticks (about finger thickness, but can be thin or thick depending how how strong the wood is)
- plastic bottles, milk jugs, plastic backing on used spiral notebooks, old credit cards or gift cards or school IDs, any kind of stiff plastic that won’t easily bend or break
- floss
- hot glue gun and hot gun glue sticks
- wire coat hangers
- small hacksaw blades
- wood scraps
- string, twine, any kind of thick-ish rope-like stuff
- paper clips
- electrical tape
- PVC schedule 40 pipe and connectors
- Gorilla Glue
These are tools I made out of the some of the items I listed above. They were quick and easy and came in handy when I work on my ceramic projects.
The board covered in twine can be pressed against clay to form a cool texture. The carving tools above are good for sgraffito or scraping away a top layer of underglaze to reveal the raw clay beneath. The central blue tool I cut from a water bottle and cut triangles out around the edges which is great for scoring the clay when joining two pieces together. The hacksaw blades I bent and taped together with blue electrical tape, and they are good for trimming or creating lines in leather hard clay. The paperclips I straightened and then bent in half and taped together at the bottom with black electrical tape to form great texture or scoring tools.
I had to spend a little money for this one, but it was not much. I made this tool out of schedule 40 1/2″ PVC pipe, a 1/2″ T connector and two 1/2″ elbow connectors, along with some PVC glue. It will open a ball of clay so that the bottom is 1/2″ thick and will also compress the clay so that it does not get the famous “S-crack”. I used the tutorial listed below in the links section for making a Simple Ball Opener.
Requirements:
- Create 4 tools to use with the clay.
- Wire cutters – out of fishing line and clay
- Needle tool – out of coat hangers and clay
- Texture tool – out of paper clips and electrical tape or plastic
- Smoothing tool – out of plastic
- Optional: Sgraffito tool out of wooden sticks, floss, hot glue, and measuring tape
- Use recycled or found objects. Do not spend money on this if you don’t have to.
- Photograph your found/recycled objects for a before picture and then once you’ve made your tools, photograph an after picture and post them to your blog in one single post.
Here are some links to also help you when you are making your own clay tools: Ms. Long's Pinterest Ceramic Tools Board Simple Ball Opener - Great tool for throwing! How to Make Clay Tools the Economic Way Homemade Pottery Brushes Making Potters Tools - Youtube Video Simple Sharp Sgraffito Tools