Clay is one of the best mediums to work with. It has so many different capabilities. It can be used for sculpting, throwing, rolled, mold, and slabbed together. I love its flexibility. Sometimes though the clay-body behaves as if it almost has a mind of its own. That is probably one of the reasons it is so difficult to make something 100 % identical. Ceramics is filled with variables, and clay responds to every touch. The drying, the glazing, the kiln atmosphere all have their own effects as to how the clay body will react to the pressure, and the one main thing that I had learned working with clay is that it does not like pressure.