Crafts with My Hands
Primary 2 · Creative Arts
Crafts with My Hands
Lesson 3 of 3
13 min
Let's begin
In Gatete's kitchen there is an old clay pot. His mother keeps dry beans in it. It has been there longer than Gatete has.
He asks her: who made this pot? A machine? No, she says. Somebody's hands made it. Somebody sat down with wet earth and shaped it.
Your hands can do that too. Let us make something that lasts.
Clay that has been sitting still is cold and stiff. Press it down with your palm. Fold it over. Press again. Do this about twenty times, until it feels warm and soft.
Now test it. Roll a small snake and gently bend it into a U shape.
Did it crack all along the bend? Your clay is too dry. It is thirsty. Add a few drops of water and press it in well.
Is it sticking all over your fingers? It is too wet. Leave it in the air for a few minutes, or add a little dry clay.
When the U bends smoothly with no cracks, your clay is ready. No clay near your home? Mix flour with a little water and a spoon of salt. Squeeze it into a soft lump. That dough behaves the same way.
Keza starts with a ball. She rolls it between her two palms, round and round, until it is smooth.
Her first pot came out with one thick side and one thin side. Do you know why? She pinched the same spot again and again, and forgot to turn.
The turning is what keeps the wall even. Every part of the pot gets the same number of pinches.
How thick should the wall be? About as thick as your little finger. Too thin and it will crack when it dries. Feel it with a thumb inside and a finger outside to check.
Umutoni is making a clay cow. She rolls the body. She rolls a leg. She presses the leg onto the body.
It falls off. She presses harder. It falls off again. She is getting cross.
Here is the reason. Two smooth pieces of clay will not hold each other. They just slide. The clay needs something to grip.
So do these four steps, every single time you join:
Umutoni does this and the leg stays. She smiles.
Now put it all together. Gatete makes an inyambo cow, the kind with the great long horns.
He joins each piece on with scratch, wet, press, smooth. The horns join onto the head, and everything else joins onto the body.
His first cow fell over. The legs were long and thin, like pencils. He made new legs, short and thick, and this cow stood up. Thick legs carry weight. Thin legs snap.
Put your model somewhere shady and let it dry slowly, over days.
Do not put it in the hot sun to hurry it. The outside dries and shrinks fast while the inside is still wet, and the model cracks. Slow and shady is strong. Fast and hot is broken.
Tip
Scratch, wet, press, smooth. Four words, in that order, every time you stick two pieces of clay together. Say them like a song while you work and your models will never fall apart.
You bend a little roll of clay and it cracks all along the bend. What does the clay need?
Answer: Water. It is too dry. Add a few drops and press them in well.
Your pot has one thick wall and one thin wall. What were you forgetting to do?
Answer: To turn the pot. Pinch, turn. Pinch, turn. Then every part gets pinched the same.
The head of your clay goat keeps falling off the body. Say the four steps that will fix it.
Answer: Scratch both parts. Wet both parts. Press them together. Smooth the clay across the join.
Keza models a dog: a body, 4 legs, 1 head and 1 tail. She joins each piece onto the body. How many joins does she make?
Answer: 6. That is 4 legs + 1 head + 1 tail. The body is not joined to anything, so we do not count it.
Mugisha wants his model dry by this evening, so he puts it on a hot stone in the sun. What will he find?
Answer: Cracks. Fast drying cracks clay. It must dry slowly in the shade.
What you learned today
Quick check
Join two pieces of clay. Put the steps in order.
Tap the cards in the right order.
