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Emily,

A number of years (decades?) ago I worked on a design  for a similar archeological exhibit.  In this case it was the Old Barracks in Trenton, NJ and for that one we had bags of shards to be reassembled.  A local ceramicist was hired to make a handful of reproductions based on actual artifacts.  Some of those were used as molds to make foam shapes.  Then the pieces were shattered so that a set of shards could then be assembled around the molded foam armatures.   Just as with real shards, pieces were mixed up or missing. This is just an example of a way to explore pottery shards.

Now what you are asking for seems to be based more on actually making something from scratch.  And for that I might suggest starting with actual raw clay.  It is relatively inexpensive but will provide the most realistic experience.  You can get clay in 10 pound blocks as needed or even purchase dry clay and mix it yourself (but this is a bigger job than it sounds...)  If you have staff managing the experience the clay can be reused as needed when a session is over or at the end of the day.  Clean up is soap and water.

Plasticine and other soft modeling clays would work, but why not use the real stuff?

Erich

Erich Rose
807 The Living End
Austin, TX 78746





On Jan 8, 2013, at 10:43 AM, Stein, Emily wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
> *****************************************************************************
> 
> Hello all -
> 
> I work in education at the Smithsonian NMNH. I am developing a hands-on activity centered on reconstructing a piece of pottery from potsherds. Visitors will analyze the shape and size of fragments, then try to recreate the pot with a sculpting material, such as clay, to better visualize what the pot looked like. Has anyone had experience with a similar type of activity? What materials did visitors use to sculpt their pot? I thought that a non-drying modeling clay like Plasticine would work well. Please let me know if you have any recommendations for materials.
> 
> Thank you!
> 
> Emily Stein
> Office of Education and Outreach
> National Museum of Natural History
> Smithsonian Institution
> Tel: (202) 633-1704
> Email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> 
> 
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