Pounding the Clay Into a Ball

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 arts and crafts video series, learn how to make wheel thrown clay pottery. A pottery expert will give you step-by-step instructions to make your own pottery, including basic wheel techniques like mounting the clay, shaping it and creating the opening, an explanation of the greenware and bisqueware stages, painting, and final firing of your piece in a kiln.

Video Transcript

"My name is Mark Coy and I am here to teach you how to throw pots, not do pots but how to throw pots. We are going to start out first with our clay and the best way to cut clay out of your bag is with just a piece of string It allows you to get through the sticky tackiness of the clay better rather than a knife or putty knife or any of those kinds of things. We are going to start off with a nice freshly cut piece. This is wonder white clay that I got at the local clay store and just pounding into a ball kind of wedging it a little bit at the same time. If you are working from your own clay that you put together or those kinds of things or if you are a little sketchy and if the clay is actually well mixed, you will want to wedge that out on a table. But otherwise straight out of the bag usually works pretty well but I like to soften my clay up a little bit. It kind of helps its elasticity when we work it on the wheel."