Ceramics & Pottery: Form the Slab Bottom of a Coil Pot

Video Transcript

" Hi! My name is Vincent Sansone and I am the Head of the Ceramics Department here at Crealde School of Art in Winter Park. Today for Expert Village I am going to show you how to make a coil pot. First you have to start with the slab bottom. So, I am going to use a piece of clay to make a nice flat bottom for the coils to be attached to and then I think I will stretch this just tiny bit and make it a little bit longer, okay. It is also if you stretch it out, it gets thinner of course. And then I will attach my coils to the surface. The easiest way to make coils is to start in your hand like this, but if you have enough surface area you lay it down on the surface that can absorb moisture and you roll the clay forward. You push it as you roll forward, but then you don’t push on the way back because you want it to stay round, just roll it forward, and bring it back. I can start with small pieces, skinny pieces, or I can start with thick pieces. The idea is to attach each piece very well so that when it dries it doesn’t crack apart. Now, this takes a lot of care and a lot of attention to details."