How To Make A Ceramic Bowl By Hand

Not only does ceramic mold making enable you to repeat a form over and over again it also makes individual forms lose their preciousness which frees you up to experiment more.

How to make a ceramic bowl by hand.

The most common handbuilding techniques are pinch pottery coil building and slab building. If you re making a bowl or plate use a potter s wheel to ensure it s symmetrical. If you want to make pottery decide on which item you re going to make before choosing an appropriate clay such as low fire clay. Handbuilding is an ancient pottery making technique that involves creating forms without a pottery wheel using the hands fingers and simple tools.

To get the walls thinner place one hand on the outside of the bowl and one on the inside. Or maybe you re not quite accomplished enough at the wheel to do it. However if you re creating a smaller object pinch the clay by hand between your thumb and forefinger to form the shape you require. You want the sides to be about 1 4 inch thick.

To make a pinch pot one inserts a thumb into a ball of clay and continually pinches the the clay between the thumb and fingers while rotating to thin. Now you have a bowl but more than likely it is too thick to be a good bowl. Start at the base of the bowl and gently push out and up maintaining the shape of the bowl. Well maybe it s time for you to consider hand building one.

Ceramic mold making opens up endless potential for creative expression.