Working With Clay

Preface to the Third Edition 8

The Safety Aspect 11

 

1 The World of Ceramics 13

Introduction 13

Clay and Pottery 13

History’s Influence on the Ceramic Art of Today 14

Functional vs Sculptural 19

Types of Ceramic Wares 19

       Earthenware 19

       Stoneware 21

       Porcelain 23

What is Clay? 24

What is a Clay Body? 25

Paperclay 26

Alternative clays and additions 28

Why Mix Your Own Clay Body? 32

Methods of Mixing Clay Bodies 32

Storing the Clay 33

       How important is fired shrinkage and absorption? 33

       How to reclaim scrap clay 34

What is Glaze?  34

Firing Ceramics 35

 

2 The Craft of Working with Clay by Hand 37

Getting Started 37

Tools for Working 39

Wedging Clay 39

Building by Hand: Introduction 40

Hand-building Techniques 42

       Pinching clay 42

       Coil method, smooth or textured 43

       Slab-building 47

Learning from Techniques used by Indigenous Peoples 54

       Methods of forming 54

Altering While Building 54

       Changing clay surface 54

       Coloring with mineral/ vegetable matter 55

Working with Plaster      57

       How to make a mold 58

Casting Slip into Molds 59

Make Your Own Casting Slip or Buy It Ready-made 60

How to Mix Plaster and Pour a Form  63

 

3 Throwing on the Potter’s Wheel 67

Anyone can Learn to Throw... 67

To the Beginner 68

Steps in Throwing on the Potter’s Wheel 69

       Wedging 69

       Position at the wheel 70

       Centering 70

       Opening the ball 71

Practice These Five Shapes 72

       a) Pull up and shape a cylinder 72

       b) Half-spherical shape 74

       c) Full spherical shape 76

       d) Sphere and cylinder combined 78

       e) Low open form 78

Other Shapes are Variations 79

       Pitcher 79

       Handles 80

       Casserole 81

       Lids and flanges 81

       Teapot, coffee pot 83

       Sets 84

       Closed form 84

       Do-nut 84

       Throwing off-the-hump 84

Trimming Feet 84

Large Forms from the Wheel 85

 

4 Ceramic Sculpture 97

What is Ceramic Sculpture? 97

       Using an armature 101

       Drape in a hammock 102

       Over-the-hump slab building 102

Categories of Sculpture 103

Sculpture Tools 108

Materials 108

Scale 109

Fabrication Techniques 111

Drying 114

Coloring 114

Firing 115

         Firing for a large sculpture 115

 

5 Finishing Touches 117

Enhancing the Clay Form 117

Decorating with Clay 118

       Texture 118

       Adding clay to clay 119

       Engobes 121

       Engobe techniques 121

Testing and Using Glazes 125

       Glaze composition 125

       Calculating glaze formulas 125

Why Make Your Own Glaze? 125

Coloring Glazes 126

       Glaze stains and oxides 126

       Basic glaze batches for low, medium, high temperatures 127

Reds, yellows, and oranges 128

       Amaco glaze tests 131

       Duncan glaze tests 133

       Hobby-Carrobia (Germany)   glaze tests 134

       Mayco glaze tests 134

       Spectrum glaze tests 134

       Spectrum Multi-color series 134

Mixing and Storing Glazes 135

Glaze Application 135

       Methods 136

Decorating with Glaze    137

Sample Commercial Glazes 141

Glass is a Ceramic Material 142

       Keep records 145

       Experimentation 147

       Line blends 147

Glaze Improvizations 147

 

 

6 Firing Ceramics 155

Heat Principles  155

Kilns 156

       Gas kilns 157

       Electric kilns 158

Commercial Ready-made Kilns 158

Paperclay Kilns 161

Why Build Your Own Kiln? 162

Firing Principles 163

Temperature Indicators 163

       Guide-posts for temperature 164

Pyrometric Temperature Devices 164

Oxidation and Reduction Atmospheres 165

       Copper reds 166

       Iron celadons and tenmokus 167

Stacking and Firing Kilns 167

       Bisque firing 167

       Glaze firing 168

Alternative Firings 169

       Pit firing 169

       Raku firing 169

       Salku firing 172

       Salt firing 172

       Soda firing 173

       Wood firing 173

Glaze and Firing Problems 177

 

7 The Art of Ceramics 179

From Idea to Art 179

       Pots and plates 180

       Birds and animals 182

       Figures and heads 184

       Walls 189

       Mixed media 194

       Sculpture 196

       Installations 200

 

8 The Timeless World History of Ceramic Art 206

 

9 Compendium 214

1. Suggested Projects for Individual Work 214

       Decide on general procedure 214

       Basically functional 214

       Basically sculptural 216

2. Suggested Projects for Beginning Hand-building 216

3. Progression of Individual Steps in Throwing Projects 217

4. Suggested Projects for Clay, Glaze, and Decoration Experiments 218

       Body and glaze development 218

       Decoration  218

       Design standards to keep in mind 218

5. Experimenting with Material Additions to a Base Glaze 218

6. Glaze Improvizations 219

7. Glaze “Line-blend” Test 219

8. Special Low-fire Information 220

       Egyptian paste 220

       Colors for Egyptian paste 220

       Mosaic cement 220

       Low-fire engobe 221

9. Some Suggestions for Taking Photographs of your Artwork 221

10. Example of a Pottery Studio 221

11. Terms Easily Mixed Up 222

Temperature Equivalents of Orton Cones 223

Temperature Equivalents of Seger Cones 223

 

Glossary 224

List of Artists 227

Residencies 231

Information Sources 233

Bibliography 235

Photo Credits 236

Index 237