Definition Of Handbuilding In Ceramics

Beth peterson is a potter artist and writer with more than 30 years of experience crafting clay and ceramics.

Definition of handbuilding in ceramics.

Pin share email kidstock getty images. Incise indenting into the wet clay. Making a pinch pot is the simplest way to begin working with clay. You start by kneading the clay into a small lump about the size of your fist.

Handbuilding is an ancient pottery making technique that involves creating forms without a pottery wheel using the hands fingers and simple tools. Basic pottery hand building techniques. Learn about the spruce crafts editorial process. 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.

What makes these creations unique is the hand artistry and the type of potter s clay you use. Below are the three most common forms of creating hand built pots. Greenware any unfired clay body before it is bisque fired and is very fragile. The three basic techniques of hand building are pinch coil and slab construction.

Before potters had the wheel they were creating beautiful pots and clay forms using clay their hands and fingers and basic hand tools. They can be used individually or combined together to suit your whims. The most common handbuilding techniques are pinch pottery coil building and slab building. Most often ceramic tools are used to carve engrave incise the clay.

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. Kiln a furnace or oven for burning baking or drying especially for firing pottery.