Adventures in Pottery, Pt. 1
During the Great Clay Harvest, I refined a few gallons of clay by dissolving it. With agitation, the clay could be suspended in water while the sand and other debris fell out of solution. After hanging it to drip dry, I was left with well refined clay bodies.
Clay slip ready to be dried.
Clay body fresh out of the drip bag.
I did not and do not own a potters wheel. I also wanted to create plant pots that had irregularity, but uniformity in character. So, I was looking for inspiration on how to form the plant pots I wanted to make. I am familiar with more conventional (western?) styles of coiling. I don’t like how thick they need to be to form stable walls. Then I stumbled across this documentary on YouTube.
Pottery forming demonstration excerpted from Christopher Roy’s YouTube Video Nigerian Pottery: Igbo, Yoruba, Gwari, Bini
It was amazing to find this video because I felt as though it fit into the vein of a lot of my other work, which is to allow construction technique to highly influence the final form. I wedged (kneading to degas) the clay bodies and created logs. Then I made some many really ugly pots that I ultimately re-worked into logs. The pot being formed below is my 12th attempt.
Clay needs to be wedged then pre-rolled into logs to make efficient work. These pots can collapse if you stop before finishing the top edge.
Using the layering technique to coil/shingle a vessel into being.
Close up of the layering.
I propped up the bottom of the clay on some modelling clay (oil based clay body) so it wouldn’t stick or flatten while I formed the walls.
After I formed the pot on the stand, I take it off to smooth it, give markings, and cut out a drainage hole. Then I set them to dry. Because it was still cold out this May (Chicago weather), I kept the pieces slightly covered as they dried to prevent cracking from the warm, dry air coming out of my vents.
I theorize scoring the edges, will help the pot wick excess moisture by increasing the surface area.
Starting to be able to form larger pots!
Next, I need to fire them. Because of the pandemic, everything is closed. So, I’ll be attempting to build my own kiln.