Erasmus+ KA153 · Budavári Egyesület & MUSUBI
Soul Shaper — clay as a tool for supporting young people's mental health. A methodology guide for youth workers. We set out on two paths: with real clay and a kiln, or with a bag of air-dry modelling clay and the kitchen drawer. Both work.
The basics
What this guide is about
We designed it as a working tool. It is meant to be taken off the shelf two days before a session, so you can pick out an exercise from it and know what to buy at the shop.
Two paths. Path A is real clay: pottery clay, a kiln, firing. It produces lasting objects, but it needs money, space and a kiln — your own or rented. Path B is air-dry clay. No firing, no studio; you take the shaping tools out of the kitchen drawer. It is a threshold almost anyone can step over. For each exercise we always note which path it works on: A, B, or A and B. Most of them work on both.
Who it is for. Youth workers, community workers, teachers, activity organisers, volunteers — anyone who works with young people and is looking for a tool to go deeper than conversation, or to do something instead of talking. You do not need to know how to work with clay in order to start. Twenty-four youth workers, most of whom had never touched clay, reached the point in six days where they could run a session on their own. Your hands learn, not your head.
Boundaries. You will not find a therapeutic protocol in here. Working with clay can be healing, but a method doing good does not make it therapy, and it does not make you a therapist.
It is not a pottery course either. We do not say a single word about throwing on the wheel — we hand-build, because that works anywhere, any time, without prior training, and because the wheel too quickly becomes about technique.
Why clay
Clay is at once obedient and stubborn. It yields when you press it, but every fingerprint stays on it. Working with young people is roughly like that. Sit a seventeen-year-old down and ask how they are. You will most likely get: fine. Sit that same young person down in front of a kilo of clay and ask them to make something that is like their current week, and ten minutes later there will be something on the table you can talk about for an hour.
A bad line on paper stays there. Clay you knead back together and start again. In the workshop it is the only material that forgives like this.
Whoever shapes, looks down. For many young people it is exactly these lowered eyes that open up speech: you do not have to face anyone while doing it.
Cold, heavy, sometimes unpleasant. You have to apply force for it to give way, and this resistance draws the tension out of the body.
The object is not the goal. The object is a pretext to be together for two hours, to have quiet, and for someone to say what they otherwise would not.
Releasing tension without talking. Involving young people who do not like to talk. Group cohesion, trust-building. A sense of achievement for those who bring a lot of failure.
Managing an acute crisis. Diagnosis or assessment. Processing trauma without a professional. Promising fast, spectacular results.
What the research says
You do not need to open a session with scientific references. But if a parent, a head teacher or a grant reviewer asks whether this is serious, it is good to have something to say.
The most cited study is a 106-person randomised controlled trial with adults living with major depression. For six weeks they worked with clay once a week for two and a half hours. The clay group achieved significantly better results in measures of depressive symptoms, general sense of health, and alexithymia — the last being the difficulty of not finding words for one's own feelings. Precisely what youth workers meet day after day.
Four mechanisms of effect.
- Releasing tension. The material resists, and what is stuck in the body comes out.
- Channelling perception. Touch bypasses words and gives something to focus on.
- Bringing out emotions. What cannot be named can be shaped.
- Regulation through form. Something shapeless becomes something with an edge.
| Art therapy | What we do |
|---|---|
| Led by a trained therapist | Led by a youth worker |
| The goal is symptom reduction | The goal is experience, connection and skill |
| The therapist interprets the work | The maker says what it means — or says nothing |
| The participant is treated | The participant is a participant |
The most important rule. Never interpret someone else's work. Do not tell them what the dark colour, the hole, the broken wing means. Ask what they see in it, and accept the answer even if you think you know better. Interpretation belongs to the other person.
Seven principles
If you read only this much of the guide, you already know more than from the technical chapters.
The question is not whether the object turned out pretty, but whether, at the end of the session, everyone can show something that is theirs.
We do not fix someone else's work. If they ask for help, show it on your own clay.
Clay can be kneaded back. It is a fact, not consolation — and this is what gets the perfectionist to touch it.
Anyone can step out at any time. Those who know they can leave dare to go deeper in.
Do not say "I see you are sad." Ask what they noticed about themselves while making it.
The group relaxes when it sees clay on your hands as well. In the closing circle, though, your piece should not be the star.
Do not clear up after them. The most honest sentences are often spoken at the sink.
Two sentences that matter. Instead of praise, a concrete observation: "I see you spent a lot of time on the rim." Instead of help, an offer: "Shall I show you on mine?"
The rule of achievement
If the team makes a single large object altogether, we only count it a successful session if the participants also had the chance to make their own, take-home object — afterwards, or before and after.
Why so strictly. In shared making there will inevitably be those who add a lot and those whose handprint disappears. Without a piece of their own, that person goes home feeling they did not matter — the exact opposite of why we do this. The practical solution: at the end of every community session, ten minutes when everyone makes something for themselves. A bead, a worry stone, a button. Ten minutes and it is done.
The only exception: when the shared work is explicitly for team-building, and the group knows this from the very start. Then the process is the product — but this has to be said out loud, it is not enough to think it.
The two paths
Real clay or modelling clay
The question is not which is better, but how much money, time and space you have, and what you want the object to do after the session.
| Path A — real clay | Path B — air-dry clay | |
|---|---|---|
| Material cost | approx. 1,500–2,500 HUF / 10 kg | approx. 1,500–2,000 HUF / 1 kg |
| Per person | 0.5–1 kg / session | 0.2–0.4 kg / session |
| Kiln needed? | Yes, own or rented firing | No |
| When ready? | 2–6 weeks (drying + two firings) | 24–72 hours, paintable next week |
| Waterproof? | Yes, after glaze firing | No. Not even varnished |
| Food-safe? | Yes, with food-safe glaze | Never |
| Does it break? | Durable after firing | Chips if dropped |
| Can you make mistakes? | Endlessly, while damp | While damp; once dry, no |
Which to choose? A one-off session, an unknown group, a borrowed room → Path B: no logistics, no waiting, everyone takes something home. A multi-week process, a returning group → Path A: waiting for the firing is itself a developmental experience, and there is that moment at the end when the kiln opens. A tight budget with many participants → per kilo, clay is cheaper; with rented firing for a large group, Path A is often the more favourable. Mixed → the best. First session on Path B so everyone sees how it goes; the second and third on Path A, with firing.
A reversed logic many get wrong. Do not invent an exercise to fit the material; choose the material to fit the exercise. If the goal is a shared object still on the club-room shelf in five years, you need the kiln. If the goal is that this afternoon they do not look at their phones for forty minutes, a bag of modelling clay and a fork will do.
Path A — tools and states
Grogged pottery clay (0.5–1 kg/person); canvas or a strong sheet for the work surface; a rolling pin with two 6–8 mm slats beside it; a wooden stick, a pointed tool, a sponge; a small bowl of water (too much water does more harm); cutting wire or fishing line; plastic bags for unfinished work; access to a kiln.
A wooden modelling-tool set (5–8 pcs); a metal scraper or a bank card for smoothing; a loop tool for hollowing; a turntable — a cake stand works too; engobe (slip) and brushes instead of glaze; a spray bottle for re-wetting.
| State | What it is like | What you can do with it |
|---|---|---|
| Plastic | Soft, cool, obedient | Shape, knead, start everything over |
| Leather-hard | Firm, like a cheese | Carve, attach handles, apply engobe. No more shaping |
| Bone-dry | Lighter, light, fragile | Sand. Now it can go in the kiln |
| Bisque | Hard, porous, absorbs water | Glaze and fire a second time |
The most important technical rule. Leave no solid lump of clay thicker than 2–3 cm anywhere, and no trapped air bubble inside. During firing the trapped air and remaining moisture expand and the piece explodes — together with the one next to it. That is why we hollow out every thick figure and pierce a tiny hole in every closed form.
Path A · the first object — the pinch pot
The oldest way of making ceramics in the world, and it is done in five minutes. Start a beginner group with this — the first sense of achievement is born here.
- Kneading. An orange-sized ball. Press, turn, tap it against the table a few times. It drives the air out of it — and seats the participant into their own body. Two minutes.
- Ball. A smooth sphere between the two palms. If the surface cracks, it still needs kneading.
- Hole. Ball in one palm, thumb into the middle until you feel your thumb through the holding hand. Leave about a centimetre at the bottom.
- Pinching. Thumb inside, other fingers outside; a pinch with stretched fingers, then turn. One-sided pressing becomes an even-walled vessel.
- Wall thickness. About the thickness of your little finger everywhere. Where it is too thin, smooth a little clay on from the outside.
- Cracks. The edge of the rim will crack, this is normal. Smooth it together at once with a wet fingertip. Little water, many times.
- Rim. Thin it gently at the end, then drop the object upside down carefully onto the table. This makes the edge even and it stands stably.
- Signature. Monogram and year on the base with a wooden stick. Among twenty pieces no one will find their own otherwise.
- Drying. On absorbent paper or a wooden board, away from draughts and radiators. Loosely covered with foil the first day.
- Firing. Bone-dry, bisque firing at about 950–1000 °C. If glazing, a second firing follows.
Slow and rhythmic. For anyone who is anxious this is the best technique: there is something for the hands to do, and no forced decision every second. Before each coil, score and slip.
The technique of imprints. Lace, leaf, key, rope, shoe sole — anything that leaves a pattern. A large part of the exercises build on this.
Path A — firing and safety
There are two firings. The first is the bisque or biscuit firing: it drives out the remaining water and organic matter, and this is what turns clay into ceramic. The second is the glaze firing.
| Bisque (first) | Glaze (second) | |
|---|---|---|
| Temperature | approx. 950–1060 °C (cone 06–04) | 1000–1100 °C earthenware, 1220–1240 °C stoneware |
| What it does | Becomes hard but still absorbs water | The glaze melts, the piece becomes waterproof |
| Time | 8–12 h heating + 10–12 h cooling | similar |
| Precondition | The piece must be bone-dry | The glaze dry, the base wiped clean |
Rented firing. If you have no kiln of your own, look for a potter, a ceramics studio, an art school or a maker house. Pricing is either per kiln load — roughly 10,000 HUF for a bisque, 15,000 HUF for a glaze firing — which is favourable for a large group, because twenty-five small objects fit in one load; or per kilogram, which is simpler for small amounts. Ask in advance what temperature the kiln reaches, what clay body it accepts, the turnaround time, and what happens if something breaks. Studios typically take no responsibility for breakage — tell the group this too.
Dust is the point.
- Never sweep, and do not vacuum with an ordinary vacuum cleaner. Wipe with a damp cloth.
- Do not leave dry bits of clay drying on the table.
- Sand wet, not dry.
- Keep glaze powders in a closed box, and wear a mask if you mix powder.
- No food, drink or phone at the clay table. Wash hands before every break.
- Jewellery off, hair up, apron on.
Path B — the kitchen drawer
Not a certificate of poverty but a better solution. Kitchen tools are familiar, there is nothing frightening about them, and everyone has them at home. It is worth saying in the very first minute that today there will be no professional tools, and that what they see on the table they will also find at home. This sentence is worth more than any methodological introduction.
Parallel grooves, fish scales. Also for scoring before joining.
Smoothing, concave surfaces, shaping bowls. The best smoothing tool there is.
Small holes for hanging. Pressed on its edge, a circular imprint.
Fine drawing, signing, internal reinforcement for thin parts.
A stone-like, rough surface.
Hair, wool, grass — squeezing out fine strands.
The most beautiful imprints. Every grandmother has one.
Textile texture over a whole surface.
A cell-like, regular pattern.
Unique stamps. Let them bring an object from home.
The most gorgeous imprints.
A straight edge, smoothing, a sharp rim.
Texture tile — an exercise that always works. Give everyone a 5×5 cm clay slab, put the pile of kitchen tools in the middle of the table, and they have ten minutes to fill the slab with as many different patterns as they can. There is no failure in it, everyone gets absorbed, and at the end there are twenty-five completely different tiles. An excellent warm-up before any more serious exercise.
Path B · the first object — botanical imprint dish
The best introductory exercise on Path B. Twenty minutes, no one can get it wrong, and the result is always beautiful.
- Gathering. Ten minutes outdoors: everyone collects leaves, blades of grass, flowers. The walk is already half the exercise.
- Base. Baking paper or kitchen foil on the table so it does not stick.
- Rolling. Knead through, then roll out to about 6–8 mm thick. Thinner curls up and cracks.
- Imprint. The underside of the plant facing down — the veins are stronger there. Roll over it once, firmly.
- Cutting. Cut around a glass or bowl with a knife, or leave it irregular.
- Shaping. Lay the slab inside a bowl so it becomes concave. Smooth the rim with a wet fingertip.
- Signature, drying. Monogram on the back. 24 hours on one side, then turned over, 48–72 hours in total.
- Painting, sealing. Acrylic paint, then matt varnish thinly, in two coats. It does not become waterproof even so.
Air-dry clay, 5 kg: 8,000–10,000 HUF. Acrylic paint set: 3,000–6,000 HUF. Brushes, 15 pcs: 2,000–3,000 HUF. Matt varnish: 2,000–3,500 HUF. Kitchen tools: 0 HUF. Per person: 1,100–1,600 HUF.
Thicker, veined leaves give the best imprint: sage, nettle, fern, oak, maple, blackberry. Soft-petalled flowers leave barely a mark, but carnation and daisy work surprisingly well. If there is not even this much money: salt dough from two boxes of flour and one box of salt. Uglier, but it costs pennies, and young people have everything for it at home.
The session
How it is built
The exercise itself is at most half of the session. The other half is what happens before and after. This framework works equally for a twenty-minute and a three-hour session — the proportions change, the order does not.
- 1 · Arrival, tuning in (10–15%). A circle, a short question everyone answers in one word. Hand-washing, apron. The clay is already on the table.
- 2 · Warming up with the material (10%). Kneading, texture tile, shaping a ball with eyes closed. Its aim is not the object, but for the hand to get to know the material.
- 3 · Setting the task (5%). Keep it short. Show the technique on your own clay, say how much time there is, and that nothing is spoiled.
- 4 · Making (40–50%). Silence or quiet music. You walk, you watch, but you do not intervene. Give a mid-point signal.
- 5 · Tidying up (10%). Wet wiping, objects onto the drying shelf with names. During tidying they already start talking.
- 6 · Circle, closing (15–20%). Everyone shows what they made. One question, one round. Passing is allowed.
| Time budget | 45 min | 2 hours | Half day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuning in | 5 | 10 | 20 |
| Warm-up | 5 | 12 | 25 |
| Task | 3 | 8 | 15 |
| Making | 22 | 55 | 150 |
| Tidying | 4 | 12 | 20 |
| Circle | 6 | 23 | 50 |
| What fits | A small object, a bead | A vessel or figure | Several pieces, shared work |
Facilitation
What you say, and how you say it, matters more than which exercise you chose. Good facilitator sentences are short and do not evaluate. They remind that it can be kneaded back; they state that you do not have to know in advance what it will be; they signal the time; and they offer the way out. Avoid praise, because it decides that there is good and bad work, and whoever does not get it is worse off.
| Not this | Why | Instead |
|---|---|---|
| "You're good at this!" | Evaluation. Whoever does not get it feels bad. | "I see you spent a lot of time on the rim." |
| "Let me help" — and you take it | You take away their object and their achievement. | "Shall I show you on mine?" |
| "What does this represent?" | Forces it to have a meaning. | "Will you tell me about it?" |
| "Hurry, time's almost up!" | Panic. Rushing ruins the work. | "Five minutes. Whoever isn't finished, we'll put aside." |
Five situations that are sure to come up.
- "I can't make anything." Do not argue. Ask them not to make anything, just to knead, and to make a ball. Five steps later they have a vessel.
- The perfectionist. A time limit, or an exercise where perfection is ruled out from the start: eyes closed, wrong hand, building a monster.
- The loud one. Do not shush them, give them a task. Let them knead the clay, hand out the tools, take the photos.
- The one who says nothing. Do not call on them. The quiet participant often works best. Passing should be a live option.
- If two of you lead. One holds the process — watches the time, sets tasks, leads the circle — the other watches the people: who got stuck, who did not start, who suddenly went very quiet.
Exercises
Individual making — E1–E16
Sixteen exercises in which everyone makes their own object. The order is not random: the first ones are easy and risk-free, the later ones go deeper and assume trust.
The very first touch of the material. A walnut of clay, fifteen minutes, everyone takes something home. There is no form to reach, so there is nothing to spoil.
The pinch pot, humanity's oldest ceramic technique. The first object with a function — many photograph their work here for the first time.
Draw a card and shape what it brings. The image bypasses the pressure to decide, and chance takes away the responsibility for why they chose it.
Which animal represents you right now? The animal is close enough to recognise ourselves in, and far enough not to be embarrassing.
You go out for ten minutes, gather, and press the found plants into the clay. The walk opens up the group before they have to do anything.
Sight judges, the hand does not. The most effective exercise for perfectionists — almost everyone sees something other than expected at the end.
Make a container for what you do not want to carry right now. The deepest exercise: do not do it on the first occasion, without trust.
If your week were weather, what would it be? A metaphor everyone knows and that obliges no one to anything.
Fired clay lasts five thousand years — and young people take this seriously. An object you take out a year from now.
Where do you feel it in your body? Mark it on the tile. The simplest body-awareness exercise, with clay alone.
The smallest possible creation, so the smallest entry threshold. Those who do not dare make a vessel dare make a bead. Do not forget the hole.
How many windows does it have? Is there a door? Who may come in? Those who cannot talk about themselves can talk about their house.
A stamp you then press onto all your work. Practical and symbolic at once — it has to be carved in mirror image.
Which gap do you let the light out through? The result, in the dark with candles in a circle, is always breathtaking.
Twenty minutes of humility. Everyone does equally badly, and this levelling frees up those who otherwise would not dare.
What is it that should exist in the world but does not? The freest exercise, and the best closing at the end of a longer process.
Community making — K1–K16
Sixteen exercises where the group creates something together. Each has built into it those ten minutes when everyone also makes a piece for themselves.
Everyone makes a body part, then we assemble it. Humour drives it: by the time it comes together, everyone is laughing and the tension is gone.
One hand with eyes closed and one voice. The best trust exercise and a communication training in one — it turns out who can attend to the other.
An animal that represents the whole team, but everyone makes their own version. The shared symbol stays afterwards.
Cut-out shapes, a hole at the top, hung on a shared tree. The best winter opener for a still-distrustful group.
A large tile wall in which every participant has a field. Everyone works separately, yet it becomes a single artwork.
A shared table setting, and at the end you eat from it together. It needs food-safe glaze and a planned closing event.
Two minutes, then pass it on. Fast, energetic, full of laughter — and a good antidote to perfectionism.
Two teams build from the two banks without seeing each other. In the middle they must meet. Removing the screen is the moment.
Everyone builds a house, then you decide together where it goes. The layout is the exciting part: that is where the group's dynamics become visible.
You draw a name and make something for that person. There is time and attention in the object, not money.
A shared object you put in the middle of the table at the start of each occasion. A physical sign that this circle is now coming together.
Small vessels with seeds. There is waiting, care, and a result that does not depend on us.
Many small bells on a branch. When the wind blows, the whole group sounds — even when no one is there.
Every object is a scene. Placed side by side they become a story, and everyone has to attend to what the person before them made.
The simplest shared memory. Done in five minutes, even with fifty people — proof that we were here.
Everyone is one link. The links are different, yet the chain is one. If someone leaves, their link can stay in it.
When it gets hard
When it gets hard
If you do it well, sooner or later someone will cry. It is not a mistake, but it is good if it finds you prepared.
Do not panic and do not dramatise. Crying is not an emergency, and a calm facilitator is reassuring in itself. Do not take them out of the room immediately — leading them out signals that this does not fit here. Do not ask what happened if they do not bring it up. Put a physical thing in their hands. They can knead it without having to make anything of it.
Suicidal thoughts, signs of self-harm. Suspicion of abuse or neglect. Signs of an eating disorder. Anxiety at a level that hinders everyday functioning. Anything that afterwards keeps you yourself from sleeping. Have to hand the contact details of the local family-support service, the school psychologist, and a helpline.
The material should be there, they should not have to bring it. There should be no cost. Give a tool to take home. There should be an apron or work clothes — many have only one good set of clothes.
Soften the clay in advance. Larger forms, less fine work. Fix the base in place. Skip E15 if anyone has a one-sided impairment.
The wet, cold touch is unbearable for some — have an alternative. Say in advance what will happen. The repetitive movement is regulation, not a blockage.
Clay is a good common language: no interpreter is needed while shaping. Show, do not explain. In the closing circle, though, have translation, because there the word matters.
Inspiration and sources
Pinterest is your friend. You do not have to invent everything. Make a board for each session type, save even when you do not know when you will use it, and share the board with the group — they often find the best ideas. English search terms: pinch pot · handbuilding pottery · air dry clay ideas · clay texture ideas · botanical clay dish · collaborative ceramic project · clay art therapy · clay ornaments diy.
Where else to look. YouTube for the techniques — a three-minute video is worth more than two pages of description. Instagram: #handbuiltceramics, #airdryclay. Museum collections online: the pattern-treasury of folk ceramics is a year's worth of material on its own.
Research. Nan, J. K. M. & Ho, R. T. H.: Effects of clay art therapy on adults outpatients with major depressive disorder: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Affective Disorders, 2017. — American Art Therapy Association: The Effects of Using Clay in Art Therapy.
Technique. The Crucible: Handbuilding Pottery 101. · The Pottery Wheel: How to Make a Pinch Pot. · The Ceramic School: Firing Explained and Pottery Studio Safety. · The Making Box: Air Dry Clay Beginner's Guide.
About the project. Lélekformáló (Soul Shaper) — Erasmus+ KA153-YOU, mobility of youth workers, project number 2025-3-HU01-KA153-YOU-000367895. Coordinator: Budavári Egyesület, Iváncsa (Hungary). Partner: Asociația Sportivă MUSUBI, Miercurea Ciuc (Romania). Two training courses with 24 youth workers: Esztelnek and Drávasztára, 2026.
Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 — free to use, copy, translate and adapt with attribution of the source.
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.