Cutting a Clay Pitcher Spout

Video Transcript

"Now that I have my slab prepared you need to get a drywall knife or some other very thin, very smooth and flat implement that you can use to compress and smooth the clay. And you're just going to go over it a couple of times. From a couple of different directions. This is important. Clay has something that is called clay memory. I know it sounds kind of silly. It doesn't actually have a brain, it doesn't really remember things, but the way that the particles align at any given step in the process can affect the way that the clay is shaped later. So if you don't compress it from both directions you might end up with a twisted spout or just kind of a funny little bend that you didn't anticipate. And it shows up while it's drying. And there's nothing you can do about it. So now we've got that nice and compressed and we can cut a shape for the spout. And I'm just going to make kind of a half dome and I'll cut that out. And that is going to be my spout."