How do you rehydrate clay? or i guess recycle clay?

Question

i have a chunk of dry clay that i need to rehydrate, but i dont know how? help please

Answer 1

You don't say what kind of clay it is.

If it is air-dry clay, it is probably permanently hard.  

Many types of clay, including some air-drys, can be resoftened by the addition of water.  Start with a small piece, if you can, apply water, and rub it between your fingers until the clay begins to absorb the water and soften.  If the clay is one big hard blob and you can't break off a smaller piece, start with one corner.  

Or you can try submerging the hunk of clay in a bucket of room-temperature water and checking it every so often.  Make sure that bucket is not then used for anything relating to food or laundry or for water for your dog.

Good luck!

Answer 2

First break the clay into small parts, maybe half fist sized as a maximum- if you try to hydrate any larger piece you will find the outside becomes as sludge whilst the centre remains hard.

I would suggest using a tray and placing the pieces inside, cover with water and leave for an hour or so before checking. Once the clay has had a reasonable soaking drain some of the water ,leaving around the top third of the clay above the water.

The soak will ensure the clay absorbs a good amount of water, then draining some away will give you more control, avoiding a pile of sludge (though some is unavoidable). Once you have drained some of the  water cover the top of the tray with clingfilm to stop the uncovered parts of the clay form drying, and agitate frequently to turn the clay.

If after a few hours the centres of the clay pieces are still dry, break them up some more and  repeat. It is better to have the clay too wet as you can then dry it by kneading onto a plaster of paris slab which will absorb some of the excess quickly.

Your problems may come when you start to work the clay and find lumps within, so i suggest once the clay is fully soaked that you chop,knead and "thump" generously, as the lumps will affect the working of the clay and could be disastrous in drying and firing. Professionally you would use a pugmill to extrude strings of clay under pressure before reforming, if you dont have access to one of these then it really is a case of working it and reworking it by hand.

After all this,,,either spread and knead on a plaster slab to soak away extra moisture or place between two good thicknesses of fabrics - again checking frequently to re-knead and as it dries a little to reform back into a slab or block.

Good luck! :-)

Answer 3

get a bucket big enough to put to clay in and then add water, not too much as you don't want it to be like mud, you will have to dry it out if that happens

get it like plasticene and then wrap it in a damp towel

remember watch it to see what it does

good luck