Clay, one of the materials provided and discussed in this unit, would be the one that I chose, discussed, and played within this paper. The reasons why I took this material is because I had no experience to play with clay before, moreover, clay is strongly connecting with ecologies (Pacini-Ketchabaw, et al., 2016, p18) that given inspiration for me and interested me to play with.

During the process, I found that clay does not sound! Only the scraper clashing with the table sounded. I say this because I thought firm things being cut or seperated by tools or hands, will sound. Was it not dry enough? But I thought it was dry enough! How about I hammer it by with a twig? I took a twig to hammer it. I noticed that the clay produced no sounds and it acted as a buffer, softening the sound of the impact between the table and the twig.

Furthermore, during this experimentation, I also found that clay is has gotten marks. As I had used the scraper to cut the clay, the marks were left in shape and straight. Then, I used the twig to hammer the clay, the marks became circular and matched with the twig’s shape. This shows that clay can be incredibly versatile to show it how to reflect the humans, the things, and the methods that occurred on them (Pacini-Ketchabaw et al., 2016).

After that, I wondered if using the twig to roll both clays would happen. A similar situation occurred, in which the soft clay was widely extended while the firm one was just slightly extended (See the right-button picture). However, I noticed that the marks on both clays were very different. As you can see the left-button picture, the wet clay presented softer and lighter marks from the twig and a small piece of tree skin was glued down. On the other hand, the firm clay produced deeper traces of the twig. When you touched both of them, you could feel the depth of these shapes.

Although I did not play with the clay in a river but a container filling with water, I could feel the clay interacted with the water as drawing my attention to water (Pacini-Ketchabaw et al., 2016). Clay with water would produce different forms which it changes depend on how it plays with.

Next, I stuck the firm clay onto a tree (See Figure 2 and 3), then the soft one (See Figure 4 and 5). I found that no matter whether they were wet or dry, they could stick in study on the tree. Then, I took them from the tree, and I noticed the moisture one left some clay on the tree with a deeper and clearer mark, while the other clay was taken perfectly but the mark was not as dark as the soft one. I found that clay in moisture would easily separate through every way but the clay in dryness would be a strong chunk hardly to separate. This made me think if a material (person) is nourished by different nourishments, methods, or environments, it (I/he/she/they) would collaborate in many ways and obtain various results. Adding more and more possibilities into the thing (clay/person), you will see numerous or infinite chemical reactions based on your curiosity, creativity, and inspiration.

Finally, I removed both clays from the tree and took a step back to look at the tree. I noticed no mark on the tree! But when I went close to the tree, I could see the marks there. I found that distances can also present different results! Or the marks’ colours were too similar to the tree so I couldn’t see it? I think because the tree and the clay are natural items, they integrated into the landscape I saw. I felt quite surprised because nature will accept nature as part of them. I also found that I realised this thing feeling peaceful and calm. This is because I expanded my thought about, how I am also part of nature, so no matter what I do something naturally or kindly then nature will include you together. As a result, clay in different environments produces different connections with me. It tells stories and emotions depending on your interactions. I can see clay relating to space, relation, ways, and context strongly as claimed in the article of Pacini-Ketchabaw et al. (2016).