3rd Grade Clay

Pinch Pots

An excellent 2 minute long video showing traditional pot making techniques is available in the white dvd basket in the first art

cabinet. Show this video at the beginning of class.

DVD: Traditional Pot Making

Insert dvd into art room pc

Many cultures throughout history have created clay pots.

Recreation of pottery making from 5000 years

ago

• Ancient cultures dug clay from the earth & used it to create tiles, pottery & other useful items.

• The first clay pots were roughly made - simple lumps of clay with an indent pressed by a fist.

• Firing is the process of heating clay to remove water, it hardens the clay & makes it durable.

• Before kilns were invented pottery was heated in wood fires.

How hot is the kiln?

How warm is this

room?

70 degrees

fahrenheit

How hot is a summer heatwave?

about 100 degrees

fahrenheit

How hot is an oven baking

cookies?

350 degrees

fahrenheit

How hot is it inside the kiln?

about 2000 degrees!!!

Today we are making pinch pots. Follow your own artistic vision.Ideas to make your pot unique:• Will the overall feel of your pot be primitive, refined or something in between? • Use your fingertips to make impressions, create a bumpy look or to smooth things out• The top of your pot could be

• smooth & even, primitive & rough, or a mix of both• it could be straight up or you could press it out into a fluted edge, or even make it wavy

• You could use a skewer to etch designs on the sides or in the center

Pinch Pots Process: • Pull up long sleeves, remove any rings from your fingers• Work your clay slab into a ball shape:

• First lightly pound & press the edges of the clay against the table to round the corners & thicken the piece

• Next pass the clay from hand to hand, press, turn & round the clay into a ball shape.

• Once you have a ball shape - press thumbs into the center - don't go all the way through!

• Shape the walls of your pot by pinching & turning your piece - a half inch thickness for the walls is ideal.

• Press the bottom of your pot against the table to give it a flat bottom so it won't tip or wobble.

Remember to put your

initiasl on the bottom of

the pot

Vocabulary

Greenware: Unfired clay projects

Bone Dry: Completely air dried clay

Kiln: An oven used for firing clay projects

Bisque: Clay which has been fired once, without glaze

Fire: To heat clay in a kiln

Glaze: Paint used to color clay projects. Glaze turns to glass when fired in a kiln.