Stark realities of dirtying your hands in clay

We all agree that few like getting their hands dirty and least of all in clay. When there is the festival of Holi, one doesn’t mind the chemical colors being strewn on one another . All is endured in the name of fun and establishing the relationship of sister-brother bond.  But dirtying yourself with chemical colors which lasts a few days on the skin is different form dirtying one’s hands in clay. 

Clay can be cleaned instantly by dipping one’s hands in water or simply allowing it to crumble from your fingers in a matter of few minutes to fall down as flakes. By dirtying one 's hands in clay , it is therapeutic as the excess heat in the body gets released by the cool and natural clay. 

Clay is Mother Earth and consists of minerals which are good for us. It also contains salts. The clay of each region differs from that of another, which is the reason Clay is of different colors such as pink, black, red and white. 

Depending on the minerals present more in the clay, it takes that color. For eg., Clay that is deep red after firing would mean that the clay consists of large deposits of iron content.  If there is more of salt content in the clay , after firing the clay would have more of white deposits  coming out of it and would  be seen like snow patches. More salt present in clay would mean that the clay is closer to a land which has the seas. 


Kitchenware made of clay pots and earthen plates and crockery  for dining are very good for health and help retain the nutrition. The taste of the food that gets cooked in earthen pots are also tastier.

Clay is normally found near lakes and ponds apart from slushy neighbourhood after a severe rainfall. You can see the difference in clay in the images below. The striped pot contains salts and hence the peaking of white vividly noted in between the designs on the ethnic pot, adding to its décor.

Pic: Malini Kalyanam , Founder  Director of Artistic pottery Training Academy holding the big, ethnic, pinched pot made by her .  www.malinipottery.com

When you are in clay play unmindful and oblivious to everything around, and dirtying your hands, the 'inner child' in you springs up.  It has been waiting all along to get this wonderful experience, which you deprived /denied on account of your ego and false opinion that dirtying is bad. 

Clay play is experiential learning and the 'inner child' wakes up to build imaginative ideas stemming from the heart. The main purpose being, very many of us are taught from our early age as to how to go about doing things and invariably learn to imitate. Being so, the child in us does not develop and neither does originality find a place.  We get stressed out as there are too many restrictions imposed.

We long to do something, but we are not allowed to experiment.  “Don’t do this” and “Don’t do that” is something that is listened to by us. We learn discernment through our life experiences. Experiences are our best teachers! Both our own as well as those of others! Allow yourself to experience clay play and don’t deprive yourselves of joyful experiences, as you are in this world to enjoy! Make the most of what life can offer you.

When you mess your hands in clay you are actually letting go of yourself. The cool clay is so refreshing and revitalising that you begin to sync with it and relax. Once you feel the richness of processed Clay, you will tend to go a step further to use it as a face pack or daily as  a body cleanser instead of soap, which contains chemicals. The aroma of clay in your body can do wonders for you as the smell/ bad odour of sweat from the body disappears in repeated usages.   So don’t restrict to dirtying you hands, penetrate further to allow your entire body to be benefited with the nutrients of clay.

Have you seen the shiny bodies of buffaloes? They  swish their bodies and sink in a clay bath with only their heads up! Their herds certainly look so funny to the onlooker when doing so, but they are certainly enjoying the coolness of clay. Learn from the buffaloes to retain a good skin.

Your stress levels come down gradually without any medications, when you dirty your hands in clay, as pottery is a stress buster.  When stress levels are down, your body is better equipped to handle the world of tomorrow. Stress and strains bog down life and make it seem arduous.  Pottery is a natural and holistic way to regain lost health. Go natural.   

The corporate HR dept would do well to equip their employees with clay workshops every now and then to de-stress their employees in Clay Play, as  it is in their interests to  cater to the welfare of the staff to  eventually derive optimum results from each. 

  

As for schools, ‘teach them young’ concept works… It is not a sin to dirty your hands in clay as is what some children are forced to think initially, as they hesitate to put their hands in clay, for that is what was ingrained in them by the parents/ teachers, who probably are the cleanliness freaks!  I recall my dad was so strict that he would not allow me to go to Marina Beach as I would come home with sand in my feet and clothes! I was in fact thrown out of home and asked to stay out the whole night when I was just seven years, so that I learn my lessons of coming home without messing the place. It was so tearful for me being deprived of all the fun and frolic of that age.

Till date, the innocence and kid-dish character in us is left un-nurtured and untapped.  Only when that blooms, we can flourish in being what we truly are catered to be. The potential in each one of us is huge, waiting to be tapped and can pave the way for a totally, altogether different, creative thinking pattern, which is the need of the hour in today’ s stressful and competitive, Corporate world. No two are alike, not even in the case of identical twins, for they can tend to think differently, learn differently and absorb approaches or retain information differently.

In this experiential learning of clay play  by dirtying your hands in clay , you can unravel the potential in you with no inhibitions whatsoever.  You also learn to do things the way you want to do it and as per your imagination, go wild , if need be, as there is nothing specified as ‘right’ or ‘wrong’… it’s the way you perceive it. Your logic binds you to your thinking styles and patterns.   Probably you will land up  to be able to execute abstract creations that you didn’t dream you could, all because you aren’t aware in the first place as to what you are capable of . You were not given a chance earlier to dirtying your hands.

So here’s your chance to beat stress and also enjoy your creative pursuit in the bargain. 

When you get your hands dirty in clay, you are actually seeping in the minerals and it is good for you. When mashing clay the clay initially sticks to your hand and over a period of time you find your hands are actually getting nourished.

Tip:  Add a bit of moisturizer to seal your skin after clay play so that the dirtying aspect turns in your favour , to ring in good health.

The flower that blooms in adversity is surely the rarest & beautiful of them all. Care to be different and be what you are.  Cheers for a great start to dirtying your hands and subsequently mustering courage to having a clay bath too!!! 

I fervently hope with this blog, dirtying one’s hands with clay is no longer a taboo and is looked upon as building one’s skills. Cheers!


Malini   Kalyanam
Founder Director :THERAPEIA  INFINITY
Founder Director : ARTISTIC POTTERY TRAINING ACADEMY, Chennai
Founder Trustee: 'The PALM' -a Charitable Trust
Content writer  for Poompuhar- (Govt of India) for Airport Division on Art & Crafts.
Content writer for WE magazine
Works with God