How to stop clay from cracking

Recently, I was mentoring a potter who told me that the person he was learning from had told him not to bother with exhibitions as it cost too much money. This isn’t true. Obviously, you can choose to hire a space and pay for advertising and hope people come. but mostly, you work with a gallery who curates an exhibition you have been invited to do or applied for. It made me think about how the first things you hear stick, as if they are the fundamental truth.

I was told when I started pottery that clay fresh from the bag did not need wedging. Follow on, years of pots cracking while drying…

I added a cloth above them and wrapped them in plastic. Cracked.

I dried them in a box to avoid draughts. Cracked.

I only used fresh clay to make sure it had all the fine particles in. Cracked.

I added epsom salts. Cracked.

I made them the same width all the way up instead of narrow at the top. Cracked.

I dried them upside down. And the right way up. Cracked.

I made them while the clay was softer. Cracked.

I tried new clays. Cracked.

Eventually, the clay provider (the wonderful Commercial Clays in Stoke-on-Trent) said, You are wedging the clay, aren’t you? Well yes, if I’ve recycled it…

It turns out that in the seventies, when clay started being de-aired and piped into bags, rumour spread that the clay no longer needed wedging. It was an older potter that told me this too. But it is wrong. The clay still has layers in it and the molecules need stirring up. I don’t have the scientific words. Just the relief…