I need advice on making a pottery piece and firing it. I never did it till

[janie]

last week so am a newbie? I am trying to make a 5 headed hydra (dragon) for my son who likes role playing games.

I took some clay home to try to work on the heads and necks.

It is hard to make them all stay up though I had it pretty good, a few fell off and had to be reattached.

I am wondering if any wire could be put in the dragon's long necks to provide some support so they do not fall over and maybe even bend them a little like the pictures I have seen of these multi headed mythical creatures.

Would wire heat up and cause the sculpture to break or crack when in the kiln. My brother made something last week and the lady said she let it dry out to much and that caused it to crack and separate so I am worried after I put a lot of work into it a piece will fall off when heated and I was told nothing could be added after that to try to fix it if a piece broke off or cracked.

Do they make a high heat wire that the center might have there. I never thought to ask and just took some clay home to see if I could make some heads and necks and wound up doing all five on a base but need to add a body when I go next week.

In addition to the wire question, if I keep the sculpture I did so far in a plastic bag will it dry out or remain flexible. It was starting to dry out as I was making the thing and I now have it in plastic but I seemed to start losing pieces and a few necks/heads fell off as it got dryer. AI tried to patch it as best I could with the little bit of clay I had left.

Will this last till next Monday. Some guy in the class said his stuff from the previous week dried out though he had it bagged but not sure how tight he closed the bag? I spent so long on it, I hate to lose what I did so far as it will take more than the class session to tart it all from scratch but I think I can get it ready to fire if all I need to do is the body, dragon wings and attach the base I would to a body and finish it.

So in conclusion

1 the wire --can I use it ..will it make the thing break..is there a special kind to use if not what mighty help steady the necks better

2 will the stuff I made last till the class and remain flexible if kept in the same bag the clay was in

thanks

 

[tigrizzle]

the only way you can put wire in is if you wrap it in paper so it will be loose after the paper burns away. But it also means that there would be a hollow space inside the ceramic, and you need to connect hollow spaces to the outside. Enclosed hollow spaces will close to guarantee that your piece will blow up in the kiln.
If you have problems with the heads staying up you can use a lump of clay to support the head until the clay has dried sufficiently to keep its own weight. While you can reattach parts if do it correctly the joint is rarely very good and the sculpture is more likely to break there. How likely depends a lot how well supported and wide the joint is. if it broke of at the thinnest part it will be less stable than a thicker part.

If anything comes off after firing you will have to glue it on.

Whether it will get too dry in a plastic bag depends on the plastic bag (thinner ones are somewhat porous) and also on the material you have it on. E.g. if you have it on a piece of plaster or wood that will help drying the clay out at that will soak up water. But usually a bag is good for a week or so.

It is a skill keeping the clay in just the right condition to work on, but not getting it too wet so everything starts falling apart. Using a spray bottle is a good way to get clay workable. But you need to be patient and let the clay absorb water between spraying it, otherwise you could get everything too wet.

Like for anything you will need personal experience and you will experience successes and failures. Keep working and it will all work out in the end.