Pinch Method Ceramics

The pinching method is to create pottery that can be ornamental or functional and has been widely employed across culture.

Pinch method ceramics.

Begin a pinch pot by forming a lump of clay into a smooth sphere that fits the size of the hand. 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. 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. That s what gives it proof that it was made by a human.

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. You can learn a huge amount simply through the experience of directly modifying the clay s form. A more recently made better version of this video can be found here in this playlist. You pinch and again the clay responds.

The most common handbuilding techniques are pinch pottery coil building and slab building. Producing pinch pots is the most direct method there is for interacting with clay. This video is showing the beginning process of making a form with pinch pottery technique. This method is similar to the way the native americans shaped clay into useful pots.

Created from a single lump of clay pinch pots are often the first forms created when beginning to work in 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. But that doesn t mean you can t make sophisticated pottery forms with the pinch pot technique. While holding the sphere of clay press the thumb into the center of the ball half way to the bottom.

The pinching technique is easy enough for even young children to learn.