What is Slip and Why do you Need Slip for Hand Building Pottery?
Slip is a water and clay slurry that is used for a variety of purposes in ceramics work. Depending on how the slip is to be used, there are methods ranging from super simple to crazy complex for producing it. When we are making slip for hand building pottery, we can go with a super simple method. We don’t need it to have a very specific texture or anything, we aren’t adding extra ingredients, and we won’t be using any special equipment. Basically, all we are doing is adding water to clay to make mud.
Step One
Slice or pinch off a few ounces of wet clay from your bag and roll or pinch it out as thinly as you can.
Step Two
Leave the flattened clay out to dry until it is bone-dry. This will probably take at least an hour. I usually just leave it overnight. If you are in a real hurry, you can pop it in the toaster oven at a very low setting.
Step Three
Take the clay and your slip container (any small container with a watertight lid will do. I prefer using gelato containers or yogurt tubs.) outside in a well vented area, and/or put on a face mask to avoid breathing in any clay dust. Smash the dried clay into tiny bits using the back of a spoon, a popsicle stick, or whatever you have handy.
Step Four
Add enough water to cover the smashed clay bits, plus a tiny bit extra. Cover the tub and let it soak until the water is fully absorbed. This could take a little while depending on how tiny the bits were. I usually just leave this overnight as well!
Step Five
Open the tub and take a look. If there is a lot of water collected on the top of the slip you can pour out the extra (any clear water on the top). If the mixture is too thick, dry, or hard, add more water and leave it to soak again. If the texture is anywhere between loose mud and heavy cream you are all done!
Caring for your Slip
Mark your container with the clay type (this will be helpful later when you start trying different kinds of clay) and keep the top on it whenever you are not using it. You can always add more water if it gets too dry. You can also continually add more dry clay bits and water to make more slip as your supply gets low.
That’s it! I hope you enjoyed learning how to make slip for hand building pottery. For more ceramics ideas, check out my section on Hand Building Ceramics at Home (coming soon) or visit my pottery instagram page at Sister Moon Ceramics.