Cutting Drainage Holes in a Clay Pot

Video Transcript

"I realized just now as I grabbed my pieces that are drying and already prepared, that I skipped one very important step. And, that is at the bottom of each of these slabs you need a cutout for the water to drain out. Otherwise, it's not a planter. So, the way that I did that is I took just a hole cutting tool. Which is a pipe cut on a slant. It gives you a nice sharp place to cut into the clay on one side. But, it also gives you a perfectly round opening. But, in this case I'm using the backside. And I just take it and press it through the clay and pull it away. And, that gives a little semi-circle hole for the water to drain through. Now, these pieces have been setting up for a day. You do want your pieces to be leather hard before you start putting them together. And, what leather hard means is that if you rub your finger across the clay with significant force you're not going to create much movement on the surface of the clay itself. But, if you put your fingernail into the clay you're going to easily make an indention with your fingernail. It's very similar to the consistency of a hard cheese, like Parmesan or something like that. So, once you've got them set up to this state you can start putting your project together."