Ceramics Techniques Pinching

Pellizco haciendo un bol con la técnica de pellizco pinching is one of the oldest methods of giving shape to clay and here it is covered in two sections of which this is the first.

Ceramics techniques pinching.

A pinch pot is a simple form of hand made pottery produced from ancient times to the present. Handbuilding is an ancient pottery making technique that involves creating forms without a pottery wheel using the hands fingers and simple tools. The relationship between hands and clay is the basis of the ceramic art form. This kind of clay can be intimidating to beginners as you have to fire it in a kiln to cure it.

Ceramic injection moulding is much like plastic injection moulding using various polymers for plasticizing. The most common handbuilding techniques are pinch pottery coil building and slab building. Handbuilt objects can be produced by pinching balls of clay joining slabs or creating coils. Pinching making a bowl with the pinching technique.

The pinching technique is easy enough for even young children to learn. 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. Prior to that pinch and coil construction methods prevailed as the main techniques humans used to form clay. However you can make larger pinch pots if you really put your mind to it.

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. If you want to make a durable food and drink safe pinch pot you need to use pottery clay. Due to the technique s limitations most pinch pots are fairly small holding perhaps one cup to one and a half cups by volume. The potter s wheel did not appear in history until 4 000 years ago.

Even today pinching remains a valuable creative and satisfying way to work with clay and can be used to form many types of pieces. 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. Hot wax moulding largely uses paraffin wax. But that doesn t mean you can t make sophisticated pottery forms with the pinch pot technique.

The pinching method is to create pottery that can be ornamental or functional and has been widely employed across culture. When you put your hands to clay the natural inclination to form shape and ultimately create something from the fine grained soil is inescapable.