clay health and safety

• What is COSHH; it is the control of substance hazardous to health
• What is the main hazard when working with clay; it is dust-silica-respiratable, crystalline silica (RCS)
• How can it affect your health;  it can lead to silicosis, lung disease.
• How can the hazards be minimised? You will have to wash tools equipment, surfaces and hands after wash. Recycle clay, slurry bin plastic bag sealed up, clay dried out in kiln room. The room should be  well ventilated and when filing wear a mask felting. 

Properties of materials used and how it affect what you do and how you do it

Plastic clay, it is soft moldable and damp. In this condition you can press thing into it.when objects are pressed into the soft clay it can leave in an impression.

Slab built cylinder vessel, it is leather hard but you have to Keane it yo harden slightly to stand up in a cylinder shape. You can roll it out when it is soft.  Left to hard  to roll into cylinder.

Slip decoration,  very wet and runny. You have to apply slip with a brush. It is use to attach pieces together also.  And let it dry to scratch into it. Thus technique is called sgraffito.

Glaze, very wet and runny. It can be apply with a brush or pour on so that it sits in all the indentations but the excess runs away.