Pinch Method Ceramics

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 out and raise the height of the vessel.

Pinch method ceramics. This method is similar to the way the native americans shaped clay into useful pots. The most common handbuilding techniques are pinch pottery coil building and slab building. 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 them with thumb and forefinger. This video is showing the beginning process of making a form with pinch pottery technique.

Pinching ceramics is usually the first thing taught in a beginning pottery class because it requires very few tools and is a great way to get familiar with the properties of clay and the process of making ceramics. While holding the sphere of clay press the thumb into the center of the ball half way to the bottom. Begin a pinch pot by forming a lump of clay into a smooth sphere that fits the size of the hand. Created from a single lump of clay pinch pots are often the first forms created when beginning to work in clay.

You push and the clay responds. You pinch and again the clay responds. That s what gives it proof that it was made by a human. The thing with using the pinch method is that no matter how much one pinches that clay or smooths it down the pot will never be perfect however that is the beauty of it it s perfect within its imperfection.

Producing pinch pots is the most direct method there is for interacting with clay. In this era egyptians employed the pinching method to create remarkably thin walled vessels and representational figures out of hollowed out pieces of brownish red clay also known as terracotta. The pinching technique is easy enough for even young children to learn. These pots are made by literally pinching the clay into the shape you desire no other tools are necessary.

But that doesn t mean you can t make sophisticated pottery forms with the pinch pot technique.