- Rip or cut a chunk of clay off the block.
- Tear a little piece of clay from the chunk.
- Roll the clay piece up in your hands to create a pebble. Note: pebbles should range in approximate size from large pea to grape.
- Put the pebble in a plastic bowl to keep from rolling everywhere.
- Repeat steps 2-4 until your clay chunk is gone.
- Place saran wrap in the inside of the paper bowl.
- Tuck the pebbles of clay close together starting at the bottom of the inside of the bowl and work your way up the sides.
- Give them a little squish occasionally to flatten the pebbles and help them connect. Note: small gaps may still appear. These aren’t a problem, but large gaps should be filled in with a small pebble.
- Continue steps 7-8 until the sides of the bowl are covered, tearing off more chunks of clay to make pebbles as needed.
- Once the inside of the bowl is covered with pebbles, compress the bottom of the bowl using your hand.
- Take your thumb from the top edge of the clay pebbles and with pressure, slide down to the center of the bowl. This will get rid of the individual pebble texture,but will connect and compress the clay. The pebble texture will remain on the outside.
- Continue pressing and sliding down until the whole inside of the bowl is relatively smooth. Remember: pressure is important to make sure the clay is compressed and doesn’t crack as it dries!
- Let the clay dry a bit inside the paper bowl before removing. The bowl can be removed immediately, but the shape of the pebble bowl may warp and it’s a little tougher to remove.
- Let fully dry and bisque fire to cone 04.
- Glaze using your favorite Mayco glaze that highlights texture on the piece. Foundations Sheers would be great option for showing texture!
Adaptations: Pebbles can also be rolled one handed on a table surface instead of between both hands, or pinched into a round shape rather than rolled. A tool, like a spoon, could be used to compress and connect the pebbles together instead of using your thumb.
