Air-dry clay

As a child mum would hand my two siblings and me piles of steaming hot dough, commonly colours would include red, green, blue or yellow. For hours upon hours, we would play with the dough making all sorts of figures and shapes. They called this play dough.

In high school, I committed myself to making a dining set including plates, bowls and cups. In my spare time, I would come up with all kinds of trial pieces in prep for my final set. In truth, I wanted to have more plate options for all my food photography. But yet again, my hands were busy creating art from the heart.

Today, I often find myself pulling out the air-dry clay or throwing old pieces away (to my dismay). 

For me, clay is about the creation and mindful moments to connect with the elements of water (to make clay pliable), earth (clay itself) and air (drying of clay). It's a moment to escape the should and instead focus on art.

Clay for you can be anything or nothing. Some people get super fancy and go to classes where they can kiln their art afterwards. Others embrace the imperfections of air dry clay knowing its strength is impermanent. 

Clay is such an incredible devotion to all as the hands get messy, the space gets dusty and amongst it all, beauty is formed from earth. 

If clay tickles your soul fancy, remember to play with it, create, destroy and create again until your hands wether something meaningful from your heart.