pottery 101

I remember when I was little and my sisters and I would play in the sandbox for hours making little cities out of wet sand, planting broccoli from the garden (sorry, mom and dad) for our "trees", and pushing dump trucks around the "roads" we had built.  I especially remember making the sand castle towers from wet sand and getting so excited when we pulled the bucket off of the gloppy, wet sand that we had just filled it with to find a perfectly formed "building."  Fun times in the sandbox were some of my favorite childhood memories.


I had the opportunity to take my first pottery class at Creative Claythings in Chicago this spring.  I LOVED it! I think I enjoyed it so much three reasons...first, because it was always something I had wanted to try since watching 'Ghost', second, because it was totally expressive and messy at the same time, but mainly because it brought back memories of playing in the sand and dirt as a kid (which also might tie into #2). There is something so incredible about making mud into something functional and beautiful.


So, about the class...the first 4 weeks of the 8 week class were dedicated to learning the art of hand building with the remaining 4 weeks to learn wheel throwing techniques. I quickly realized that my years of drawing precise architectural details were not going to come in handy here. Working with clay is meant to be organic and expressive, which was a welcome change. I love that some of my best pieces were rescued from what I thought were detrimental mistakes.


Here are some of the things I made from my beginner pottery class with explanations of the techniques used to create them:

Pinch pot: A pinch pot is a ceramic pot made by the hand-building method of kneading clay and then pinching it with thumb and fingers into the required shape.


I wanted to make a spoon rest for the kitchen. When I started pinching the clay into place, it was a bit harder to shape than I had anticipated. I didn’t really like how it was turning out, so I decided to spruce it up with some embellishments and then I went too far. Some say it reminds them of a jaw of teeth, but I was going for something reminiscent of Italian pottery with the bright colors and patterns. The glaze used was three layers of blue (yellow for the "teeth") and yellow wiped off on the inside.

Coil pot: coiling is the method of rolling cylindrical rolls of clay and stacking them on top of each other to form a bowl or vase. Another technique is to roll out the coils and shape them around or inside of a mold.

I rolled out small cylinders of clay, coiled them into “snail” shapes and arranged them along the inside edges of a bowl to create the desired shape. Then any gaps were filled with bits of clay and slip (slip is simply watered down clay that acts as a glue to hold pieces of clay together). Glaze: 3 layers of blue with yellow dripped on the inside.
 

Slab pot: pottery made by hand using rolled-out sheets of clay.


This reminded me of building architectural models in the sense that you have to construct the walls and base and then piece it all together. I decided to make an asymmetrical wrapping vase. There were basically two pieces: the bottom and the sides. Before the pieces were assembled, I stamped a textured pattern on the clay using a rope and stones.  I didn't know about layering colors for glazes yet, so the glaze is  3 layers of green or blue with white dripped on the final layer.  If/when I do it again, I would like it to look more earthy...add some browns and mix the colors up a bit

Throwing wheel: A machine on which earthenware is first rudely shaped by the hand of the potter from a mass of clay revolving rapidly on a disk or table carried by a vertical spindle; a potter's wheel.


Although it took me a while to get the technique, throwing clay on the wheel was my favorite part of class. I was able to make a variety of small bowls in a short amount of time and it was messy!

Glaze: is a mixture of predominantly oxides applied to ceramic ware after bisque firing which forms a protective moisture-proof coating and often imparts an ornamental lusture.


There were a variety of colors provided for us in class including red, yellow, white, blue, brown, and green. Each color had varying degrees of opacity which became important to learn when I started to play with layering colors. The more transparent glazes flow more easily and blend into opaque glazes when fired in the kiln. Therefore, in layering glazes it was important to remember to have the more transparent glazes as the final layer (there are typically 3 layers of glazing applied). If the opaque glaze was on top, it wouldn’t flow and you wouldn’t see the layers underneath. Also important to note: the glaze when applying to pottery, does not look anything like the color that you end up with after firing. It was always a mystery as to how the pieces would turn out.

As I had expected, I loved the art of pottery and am looking forward to the fall when I hope to continue taking classes. I have so much more to learn!