Definition Of Handbuilding In Ceramics

Making a pinch pot is the simplest way to begin working with clay.

Definition of handbuilding in ceramics. Hand building pottery using slabs of clay is an exciting way to create shapes that could never be produced using a potter s wheel or that would be difficult to achieve if you are doing hand construction using coils of clay. Greenware any unfired clay body before it is bisque fired and is very fragile. They can be used individually or combined together to suit your whims. To make a pinch pot one inserts a thumb into a ball of clay and continually pinches the the clay between the thumb and fingers while rotating to thin.

Beth peterson is a potter artist and writer with more than 30 years of experience crafting clay and ceramics. Handbuilding is working with clay by hand using only simple tools not the pottery wheel. Before potters had the wheel they were creating beautiful pots and clay forms using clay their hands and fingers and basic hand tools. Basic pottery hand building techniques.

Most often ceramic tools are used to carve engrave incise the clay. Learn about the spruce crafts editorial process. Handbuilding is an ancient pottery making technique that involves creating forms without a pottery wheel using the hands fingers and simple tools. Pin share email kidstock getty images.

Below are the three most common forms of creating hand built pots. Kiln a furnace or oven for burning baking or drying especially for firing pottery. Pinchpot coiling and slab techniques. The three basic techniques of hand building are pinch coil and slab construction.

You start by kneading the clay into a small lump about the size of your fist. The most common handbuilding techniques are pinch pottery coil building and slab building.