This big block of Clay piqued my curiosity, and I began to wonder about all the possibilities. I had never played with clay before, not even as a child. This intimidated me but at the same time invited me to explore and tune into the essence of clay.

When I tried to cut the clay with a wire, I realised how much effort it really took. Only yesterday I learnt that there is a tool called a clay cutter, and I tried to use it. I realised How much effort it needed. Eventually I gave in and took matters into my own hands(literally) and used all my might to pull out a chunk.

Thought on mind: Thank God I was able to take a chunk out.

This exactly what I hoped to see when they interacted with clay.

I poked, and squashed it, took random things from my table and enjoyed the experimentation, I decided to imprint things, some didn't make a difference while some made beautiful designs that made me aware of the different textures, and which objects better suited for making them. Pacini-ketchabaw et al. (2016) said it better "Clay transforms itself over and over as it comes into friction with things and with us. Clay never stays the same."(p.60). And I intended not only to manipulate the clay but to let it talk and inspired me.

Pacini-Ketchabaw et. (2016) describes the act beautifully when the teacher helps the children "fold in memories of a dry pine needles into the cold clay"(p.63). The clay was no longer just earth but an archive of our memories together. These attachments transformed both the clay and me.

The word "shake" seemed to have caught my attention, and I just started to grab everything on my table and put them in my cup along with clay wondering what the clay would attach itself to if I shook it, what would it accept and what it would reject?

This reminded me of a line I read, "clay becomes a multispecies event, where it chooses to entangle or not with other living and non-living things" (Maria Puig de la Bellacasa,2015, as cited in Pacini-Ketchabaw et al.,2016, p.62). It surprises me how my environment can influence a playful curiosity.

As Pacini-Ketchabaw et al. (2016) says "Clay weeps, collapse, melts.."(p.56), that's exactly what I felt when I played with it. Just as water is essential to us, so it is for the clay as well. At that moment I felt I had tamed the clay.

As I continued to play with the clay off camera, I noticed others playing with paint and charcoal. I said to myself that "I want to paint as well". Hence, I picked up pebbles and paper cups and smeared them with clay, I left my fingerprints on whatever I could find. The Clay was my paint, and the world was my canvas.

Pelo (2016) says clay softens with the help of water it makes the clay slippery melting into a mud puddle. I thought to myself that this is what it would feel to play by the riverbank.

Familiarizing myself with the wet soft clay, squishy and sticky, I started to use them as a glue to stick it everywhere. This wasn't just messy, it was a time of reflection.

I also revisited the clay I had left outside in the Sun. To my surprise even after 3 hours it didn't heat up, it was cold as ice with no visible changes. Probably the Country interacted with it, but it was unknown to me.

"We think about clays demands when we it responds to our movements as we work with it when it refuses to stay still in one shape" (Pacini-Ketchabaw et al., 2016)

Pacini-Ketchabaw ended by saying "Clay is able to slow things down in the studio. It invites the children to follow its unexpected movements as it interacts with shoes, with pockets, with canvas, with floor, with hands, with mittens, with air." (p.65)

My hands were still cold from the water play. I felt like the clay had imprinted on me and an experience everyone should have at least once in their lifetime.