After yesterday’s post I had a few questions from readers regarding my method for conditioning Kato clay. I decided to take a few pictures to illustrate my technique. First I condition the clay in the mini food chopper:
I don’t add any liquid clay unless the clay is absurdly hard. The more you run it through the chopper, the softer it will become. Once I’m satisfied with this phase of conditioning, I empty the clay crumbles out into a big ziploc baggie.
Then I flatten it out and roll it with the weighted rolling pin that I bought for conditioning. I try to get it as thin as I can, then I put it through the thickest setting of the pasta machine. Once through the thickest setting, I take it down to about a #7 on the Atlas. Don’t try to fold the clay like you would other brands, but just take it down thinner and thinner.
I have rheumatoid arthritis and am in a wheelchair from a spinal cord injury, believe me I struggle with conditioning clay, especially Kato clay, but I find the extra struggle well worth the final results.
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I have just switched to KAto clay from Fino Soft and am very grateful for this conditioning tip, it is the downside of Kato but the results you get with caning are amazing. I did some trials making the same cane with different brands and couldn’t belive the difference with the firmer Kato. Must get myself a chopper!