In yesterday's workshop with our instructor Deborah, we began working with clay. Deborah first went through all the rules with us and how she expected us to behave whilst in her lesson. Once we knew all the rules about health and safety like, not making too much dust as if we breathe it in, it could harm our lungs, and where all the equipment went,  we started drawing some designs to make for our individual piece, and then learnt how to role clay and how to check if there were any air bubbles trapped in the clay by using a method called wiring, which meant kneeding the clay inwards, forming the clay into a square, and then using a tool called a cheese cutter, to cut it into slices so you can see whether or not there are any air bubbles that need covering. After this, we then used  a rolling pin and two sticks at either side of the clay, to role the clay evenly; so that we could cut out two hands ready for the group task at the end of the day.
After break, we started making our individual pieces, which I quite enjoyed. I got a new piece of clay so that it was fresher and easier to mold, rolled it out evenly and then rolled this round a long tube to make the arm. Once the clay had set a little, I took the clay away from the tube, and rolled out More new clay to cut out a shape of a hand which I attached towards the top of the arm using slit so that it would stay on securely.
Then, after dinner we had 45 minutes to finish off our final piece before we started our group piece, so to finish it off I cut out a new hand, shaped it into the right position and once again used slit to attach it to the top of the wrist; however, I found this quite difficult as the hand didn't have much support so it kept falling out of place. Due to this, I had to apply more slit and clay to help strengthen it. Finally I used a brush and water to help neaten the sculpture up and now all I have to do is wait for it to set in the kiln.
After we'd finished, the rest of the group and I, used the hands we made at the beggining of class to create a class piece. We took it in turns to place the hands in a bowl to help mold them into that shape. However, we weren't shown any other group pieces, as Deborah wanted us to come up with something on our own.
 I enjoyed this workshop as it was a challenge  and I wanted to see what I could do.