How to Make a Cupcake Pinch Pot

A pinch pot decorated to look like a cupcake can serve as a piece of home decor or a container to hold small items.

Pinch pots are one of the easiest and most versatile forms of hand-building with clay. Creating a basic pinch pot requires no special equipment other than your hands. To make a cupcake created out of pinch pots, this project will use two pinch pots that are formed together, then cut apart. Coils are used to shape the project and create the appearance of a cupcake wrapper and frosting. With a knowledge of basic ceramics skills, this project will be a piece of cake.

Things You'll Need

• Ceramic clay
• Slip
• Spray bottle with water
• Clay paddle
• Clay pencil
• Wire cutting tool
• Paintbrush

Instructions

Making the Basic Shape

1. 

   It is important to wedge your clay to eliminate air bubbles.

   Wedge the clay to remove air bubbles. Create two solid balls of clay about the size of your fist to create the top and bottom of the cupcake.

2. Create the first pinch pot by sticking your thumb in the center of the clay ball about half of the way into the clay. Using your other fingers, pinch the outside of the clay gently and start turning the ball, so that the pot starts to form. Lightly spraying the surface of the clay with water can help reduce sticking to create an even pinch pot.

3. Create a second pinch pot. This pot should be the same diameter as the first pot.

4. Tap the flat edge of the pinch pots gently on a flat surface to even the widths of the edges out.

5. Score and slip the rims of the two pinch pots together. Roll a coil of clay that is as long as the circumference of the pots. Adhere the coil to the seam where the two pinch pots meet.

6. Knit the seam together by using a clay pencil and scoring the seam as if you were adding pieces on. Using your fingers or a rib, start to smooth the scoring lines over to create a uniform surface. When you can no longer tell that there used to be two pots joined together, the clay is properly knitted. Joining two clay pieces together in this manner is referred to as making a clay balloon.

7. Paddle the clay to make the balloon longer than it is wide, into a cylinder shape.

8. Using the wire tool, cut the clay balloon into two sections. The bottom portion should be about 2/3 of the entire piece, and the top should be 1/3 of the piece.

Creating the Bottom

1. Tap the bottom of the pot on a flat surface so that the curved bottom becomes flat.

2. Smooth out the inside of the pot with your fingers or a rib. The process of making a clay balloon will leave some areas that are not smooth and have excess slip on the inside that needs to be smoothed out.

3. Roll the pot on its sides to help maintain straight walls.

4. Roll additional clay into coils. The actual size of the coils will vary depending on the size of the cupcake pot. These coils will be used to give the bottom portion a realistic looking clay cupcake wrapper.

5. Apply the coils to the clay vertically, making sure to score and slip the pieces to attach. The coils should start at the bottom of the vessel and end at the rim. Smooth the coils with your fingers or a damp paintbrush to make the ridges look natural. If a more flared shape is desired, add coils horizontally at the top and smooth onto the surface before adding the vertical coils.

Creating the Lid

1. Create the retaining rim on the inside of the lid. This helps to keep the lid on the vessel. To do this, roll a coil out that is the same length as the inside circumference of the lid. Flatten this coil with fingers or a small rolling pin so that the coil is wider than it is thick. Attach this coil on the inside of the rim on the lid. The coil should stick down out of the lid so that when the lid rests on a table, it rests on this coil rim.

2. Roll more coils out to create clay frosting. Attach these by scoring and slipping the coils on the outside of the lid. Additional decorations such as sprinkles can be made by rolling small balls of clay or cutting coils into segments and attaching.

3. Smooth out any imperfections in the surface with a damp paintbrush.

4. Check the fitting of the cupcake by putting the lid on the bottom pot. If the lid does not fit or moves around, now is the time to fix the issue. Check to see if the width of the pots match up. If the widths of the top and bottom pieces are significantly different, add or remove coils from the surface.

Drying and Firing

1. Cover the piece with plastic bags. Dry the clay cupcake over the course of several days to prevent the clay from cracking. Rotate the cupcake at about a 90-degree angle every 12 to 24 hours to insure even drying.

2. Fire the clay in the kiln at the settings recommended by the clay manufacturer. This will be a lower temperature than the glaze fire.

3. 

   Always remember to shake premade glazes and slips before use.

   Use colored slips, underglazes or overglazes to decorate the outside and give the cupcake a protective and decorative finish. If you do not want to do a glaze firing, you can use acrylic paint to paint the cupcake.

Tips & Warnings

• Many community art centers will allow you to use their kilns for a small fee.

• You can also use air dry clay to create a cupcake from pinch pots. Decorate these with acrylic craft paint.

• If the container will be used to store foods, use only food safe glazes.

References

• TeachCeramics: Pinch Pots
• Art Projects for Kids: Ceramic Cupcakes