Pinch Pot Construction

The first project the class was assigned to do was to create a pot using the pinch construction method. The pinch construction method is sculpting clay by pinching it. It is a very easy process for those who have experience working with clay. For first-timers, it is more difficult than it looks. I am new to the concept of pottery and the process is fun, tiring, and adventurous.

The first step in pinch construction is to take moist clay and kind of slap it into a ball. Slapping the clay allows it to compress and remove any air sockets. When the clay is balled up, we dipped our hands in water and moved our hands around the clay. The water smooths out the clay, removing any lines.

In the second step, we push our thumb in the middle of the clay while turning the clay in our hand. The clay starts to expand up and out, making a round bowl. I had a difficult time making the bowl wide. Instead of expanding out, the clay expanded up, giving the bowl an oval shape.

The third step was to make a leg. The process is similar to the second step except that once you get the hole in the center, you pinch the outside of pot to gather clay. That gives the leg thickness and allows it to jut out. Making the leg was another challenge I faced while constructing my pinch pot. The clay was gathered more in one area. At this point, I was thinking of giving my pinch pot a more symmetrical look to it so I decided to make the leg square.

I continued trying to pinch my clay into a round bowl. After a while, I decided to make my clay square. I made the straight part of the lip correspond with each corner of the leg and vice versa. Trying to make the clay square was challenging. Most of the time was spent trying to even out the thickness of the clay and straightening the lip of the clay.

The outcome wasn't how I wanted but because it was wavy and had a topsy-turvy look to it, I thought it would look really nice if it was filled with seashells. I used a seashell stamp to stamp all four sides of the bowl. I became happy with the ending result.

UPDATE:

Finished Pinch Pot

The glaze was too thick but this is the outcome.