Forming Clay for a Goblet

Series Summary

Making pottery is the art of creating earthenware vessels from clay. The process involves shaping a vessel, by hand or with tools, and cooking it in a kiln. Mankind has been making pottery since the times we first learned about fire. Ancient civilizations used pottery for all sorts of things, from storing oil, wine, and other foodstuffs, to holding papyrus scrolls, the organs of dead god-kings, perfumes, and various religious offerings. Because pottery is durable and lasts long after its creator is gone, it has helped us to learn about entire groups of people that we might have otherwise never known; these hand-crafted objects tell stories, not only from their complex structural designs, but also the carefully wrought stories painted on their surfaces, a sort of iconography of a time and place in history.

In this free video clip series this clay expert will be addressing the art of pottery forming and molding the clay with your hands. She will include several examples of natural hand movements you can use to create life in your pieces as well as several creative ideas for new and interesting designs no one has thought of yet. This will make each piece you make special and unique. You will learn tricks for scoring edges of clay, attaching them and even how to apply handles to a pouring bowl. Take a look at these great videos and go play in the mud!

Video Transcript

"OK. Now we're going to do goblets. You can do goblets and chalices in a number of different sizes and shapes. You can sort of do whatever you want with these. The similarity between all of them is that you're going to throw a cup and you're going throw a stem separately. These are two separate pieces you'll throw this, this way, attach them together and then trim them. So it's a multi-step process. For this particular one, I'm going to use three quarters of a pound for both the cup and the stem. I've found that about the same amount of clay for the cup and the stem is usually pretty good. Unless you want a really tall stem, in which case you might want to get more clay for the stem itself. Right on three quarters, so I'll take that piece for one. Need to add a little to that one, three quarters. So now we want to take these little pieces and ball them up, set them in our bucket for throwing. And now we're ready to throw the pieces for our goblet."