My last tip talked about ways to store your clay, this tip will give you some ideas for suitable worksurfaces.
My all time favorite - the ceramic tile! Pick these up at Home Depot, Lowes or DIY. In fact pick up about a dozen at a time in various sizes. Great to use if you are creating characters because you can work directly on the tile and it can go right into the oven. This prevents distortion and icky marks on your characters. I have them in sizes ranging from 6 x 6 inches up to 12 x 12. Just make sure they are the smooth glazed and non textured
Another favorite and a general worksurface that I use in the studio is a glass cutting board. These are larger and cost about $8 at a department store. While these dont go into the oven, the glass surface allows for easy clean up of the huge mess I seem to create whenever Im working.
Formica is another good choice. It cleans up easy. At the Carol Duvall Show we used to work on formica to demonstrate on. You can often pick up sink cut outs at the lumber yard for next to nothing. (This is the formica that is left from the countertop once the sink hole has been cut to size). Then again you can always be fancy shmancy and have one custom made for you.
What are your favorites?
A few no-no's.....no wood surfaces unless you like to strip the varnish and refinish your furniture and no plastic cutting boards...they stick and ICK on the mess.
Send me your ideas!
