How to Make Pottery

Pottery is one of the most durable forms of art, which makes it a great choice for accents in your home. When choosing pottery for your decor, opt for pieces with a speckled or dual glaze that complement the overall design of your space. If you have an organic style, promote this aesthetic with plants housed in beautifully glazed pottery pots.

To begin with, clay is a versatile material that can be shaped to produce many different types of ceramics. The first step in making pottery is to knead the clay until it becomes soft and pliable. Once this is accomplished, the clay can be formed by hand or using a wheel.

Handwork or handbuilding is the earliest and most individualized method of building pottery, with wares constructed from coils, flat slabs, solid balls of clay, or some combination of these elements. The technique requires a lot of patience and is slow, but it allows for greater control over the size and shape of a piece.

The next process, called centering, involves pressing the rough ball of clay downward and inward into perfect rotational symmetry. This is a critical skill that takes time to master and can be the most challenging aspect of ceramic making. Once the clay is centered, it can be opened (making a centered hollow into the solid ball of clay), flooring (creating the flat or rounded bottom inside the clay), and trimming or turning (removing any excess clay).

After a pottery item is built and trimmed it needs to sit until it is leather hard, which means that it is no longer damp but has sufficient moisture content so that it will not deform in the kiln. The pottery is then ready for its initial firing, which is known as a bisque firing.

Auto Amazon Links: No products found. http_request_failed: A valid URL was not provided. URL: https://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?SearchIndex=All&multipageStart=0&multipageCount=20&Operation=GetResults&Keywords=How+to+Make+Pottery|Pottery+Stuff&InstanceId=0&TemplateId=MobileSearchResults&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US Cache: AAL_3b2180098832e42da16b5d1a455894a9