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NANTICOKE — Nearly two dozen children learned how to turn a liquid mixture of clay into some beautiful ceramics Saturday at the Mill Memorial Library.
Lori Duda, 39, of Nanticoke, and her daughter Emily, 8, explained the process, which begins with a batch of slip — a liquid mixture of clay particles.
“I don’t think a lot of people understand how long it takes to make ceramics,” said Duda, adding that she and her daughter make ceramics and pottery in their garage.
Dipping her finger into the gray, milky liquid the consistency of heavy cream, she asked a few kids to help her pour it from a large measuring cup into two holes in a wooden mold. After the mold was filled, she tapped it on the table a few times to get the air bubbles out.
“If there’s an air bubble, the piece will explode in the kiln,” she said, pointing out that a kiln is an oven that fires pottery.
Duda then inverted the mold onto a bucket to catch any excess liquid. After a few minutes, she cleaned off the excess clay near the openings of the holes with a plastic scraper. In about 24 hours, the mold would be safe to open and the shapes inside would be intact.
Cracking open another mold, which was identical to the one she used for the demonstration, Duda carefully pulled out two round, gray balls called greenware, which she passed around for the kids to feel.
Each child was given a finished replica of the demonstration ceramic to paint. Since the theme of the event was “Christmas in July,” the ceramic piece given to the children was in the shape of an ornament.
“It doesn’t have to be an ornament,” Duda said. “It can be turned sideways and you can put little feet on it and make it a pig.” Emily also showed how the ornament can become a tiny lantern by poking holes and cutting off the top before firing. “You can put a tea light in it.”
With a palette of yellow and black, 11-year-old Ryan Kenney, of Plymouth Township, said he wanted to make his ornament look like a smiley face. “It’s fun how you can just paint whatever you want,” he said.
Ryan joined several of his good friends at the table as each one painted one-of-a-kind pieces. “I’m going to make mine a sort of Pokémon theme,” added Connor Kosicki, 12, also of Plymouth Township.
The boys, who are cousins, said they and their friends attend a lot of events at the library. “My mom usually goes on the library’s Facebook page to see what’s going on,” said Connor. “It’s pretty fun. You can really express your creativity.”
