A Guide to starting pottery 4 of 4
Hand-building techniques
Finally we look at a just a few simple ways to make pots by hand. With these methods you may make as big a pot as your kiln will take–and succeed! Everyone thinks pottery is about throwing on the wheel – naaah – that’s the most difficult way and not all that creative, although I will show you creative ways at the end of this sheet. You may link all and any of the methods together at any time.
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Coil pottery is one of the simplest ways to make almost any shape and size! Simply roll sausages twice as thick as the wall of the pot you want, and join them one on top of another in a spiral. Then “weld” and join together one third on the inside and one third outside, simple as that. Do not squeeze it thinner or smooth it. When you have the height you want, shape it–yes–by tapping out the inside, or slicing and re-joining to make thinner, and tapping again. Above you see I have added two thrown pots.
Slab pots. Using wooden batons and your clay in between, roll out a slab. Cut out the shapes you require and slip them together. Here you see I have applied decoration afterwards.
The very simplest pottery is a pinch pot. Take a ball of clay, push your thumb into it and pinch from the bottom upwards! These may be tapped with a baton into shape or stuffed with paper (which will burn out afterwards) to make a hollow body for piggy bank or whatever.
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Our penultimate pictures show how thrown shapes may be combined to make an owl. Several bowls and cylinders were made and cut when leather-hard, then slipped together.
For the final shots, here is a selection of what was produced.
