Basics Of Ceramic Sculpture
1. Bonding
It is not enough to just use pressure to add another bit of clay to the main body – it needs to be joined by smearing the clay in-between the two pieces. When building up a coil pot (for a head, for instance), the coils need to be joined to each other, so that an even surface is emerging, with no furrows left from the bonding process.
2. A minimum of 2cm thickness
The emphasis is on solidity, to counteract the effects of gravity and sagging. Any clay added to the main body, like ears, tails, hair and so on need to have sufficient thickness to resist touch: if the clay gives in, it is too thin and weak. A triangular structure is best: Thick where it joins the main body, thinning slightly out towards the edge (for instance an ear).
When building a coil pot, special care has to be taken to keep the walls enough thick: whenever they are too thin, the structure is likely to collapse later, with greater weight and pressure coming down onto the weak point.
The clay walls can be thickened later on, by checking them with thumb and forefinger for sufficient thickness, checking on weakness ( thin parts) in various places of a clay slab
3. No pinching of clay, or “clawing” between bent fingers
These two habits might be a left-over from play-dough days, and weaken the whole clay structure. If the habit initially proves too hard to break, the student should use a flat hand, or a tools (serrated kidney) to smoothen the clay: think of caressing your favourite cat, or of licking out, with one stiff index-finger, the bowl with the left over cake mixture!
Ceramic skills at Foundation Level
