POTTERY

Pottery is fun, creative and messy. If you have a wild imagination, then Pottery is for you because there are no right or wrong designs when it comes to pottery. You can be as perfect as you want or as messy/wild as you want.

From the day I started secondary school I have always loved pottery. I love getting my hands dirty and I love being creative. I left secondary school in 1999 (long time right) and I have always wanted to get my own clay and get creative, but life takes over and it got pushed at the back of my mind until my son started doing pottery at his school.

I looked into getting Air Dry Clay and get creative. I do not have a pottery wheel to make my pots/vases etc. You gotta use your hands, yes, I did say your hands. Air Dry Clay works the same way as traditional clay and sets just as well too.


How to make a pot using your hands:

What you would need: clay, water, rolling pin, clay cutting tools, newspaper, slippery clay mat and clay paint, waterproofing agent (for later)

Method:

1.  Place the newspaper down on the work surface and then place your clay mat down.

2.  You can use a template for the base of your pot or just improvise.

3.  Depending on how small/big you want the diameter of your pot to be; you would cut a chunk of clay out roll it around on your mat into a worm/sausage shape. Put a bit of water on the inside base along the edge and some on the worm/sausage like clay and place this onto the base pushing down firmly but not to hard as to not to spoil the shape of it forming the shape of the pot and joining the edges together.

4.  Then you would smooth the edges down on the inside and the outside joining the first worm/sausage line to the base.

5.  You would carry on making these worm/sausage lines and place them as high on top of each other depending on how long you want your pot to be, smoothing each one as you go along.

You need to make sure you do not it dry out too much or get too wet either as this will make it hard to shape the finishing shape of your pot.

I used clay tools to create the patterns in the pots in my picture and the little moulds of clay were created by placing chunks of clay into empty chocolate trays by my son which he later painted too.

We just got creative and had fun. Enjoy making your master pieces.

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