Techniques of Pottery

Methods of preparing pottery:
Hand build (pinching method)
History:
• Historically, pottery making is one of the most widespread and oldest of the arts.
• Most reference books claim it started between 9,000 - 10,000 years ago in the area now known as the Middle East. Recent findings claim to carbon date American Indian pottery back as far as 25,000- 30,000 years ago, long before recorded history began.
• Throughout the ages cultures around the world have used clay for many purposes. Some of the earliest pieces found were animal and female figurines probably used for rituals and ceremonies.
• Pottery was mainly for utilitarian purposes like storing grain or dried materials. The earliest pieces were shaped by hand from crude clay dug from the earth, and left to dry in the wind and sun to harden. This form of pottery was not useful for storing water, as the shape would eventually collapse when the liquid was absorbed into the clay. A clay lining smeared inside a basket of woven reeds was discovered to work better to carry liquids.
• Heating of the clay pieces was the next evolvement in clay objects.
• Possibly this was discovered when heating a clay lined basket of food.
• Fire could make clay objects more permanent was when the art of ceramics was born.
• Today the nature and type of pottery is determined by the composition of the clay, the way it is prepared, the temperature it is fired at, and the type of glaze used. Pottery comprises of three distinctive types of ware. Earthenware, Stoneware and Porcelain.

Pinching Method :
• A thumb pot is an ancient as well as contemporary form of pottery.
• It is a simple form of pottery.
• The pinching method is a means to create pottery that can be ornamental or functional, and has been widely employed across cultures and times.
• Simple clay vessels such as bowls and cups of various sizes can be formed and shaped by hand using a methodical pinching process in which the clay walls are thinned by pinching...