Handbuilding is exactly what it sounds like; using your hands to form an object out of clay. It encompasses some other, more specific, forming methods as well, like coil building and slab building, and is often used in conjunction with other forming techniques. Ceramic sculpture would fall into the hand-building category since it incorporates many different techniques.
Slab Building
A process whereby slabs of clay are rolled or pounded out, either by hand, with a slab roller or rolling pin, and then used to construct objects or vessels. Depending on the aesthetic or design requirements, clay slabs can be used from the wet stage up through leatherhard. Many slab builders embellish the slabs with surface designs or textures prior to construction because it is easer to create surfaces when flat rather than after a piece is made.
This is perhaps the most simply understood technique for making clay vessels and sculptures. Coils of clay are rolled out, and are built up in a spiral fashion, with the coil being added joined to the coil below it layer after layer until the desired wall height and profile is achieved. This is a great entry-level technique, and will teach you a lot about what clay will and won’t do when wet.
Wheel throwing is probably what most people think of when they think of making pottery. A potter will use a manual or electric potters wheel to center a ball of spinning clay, open it into a vessel, and lift and shape the walls while the wheel is spinning, thereby producing a symmetrical vessel. These vessels can then be textured, decorated, reformed into alternative shapes, or adorned with handles for cups spouts for tea pots or anything your imagination can conjure up. Check out this video provided by Ceramic Arts Daily on throwing. Faceted Bowl
Extruding
This technique was borrowed from industry, and has been adapted by clay artists to fit the studio scale. An extruder is a tool with a plunger that forces wet clay through a tube and out through a die at the end of the tube, effectively squeezing the clay into a shape that is determined by the die. Dies can be purchased or made, and the possibilities are many. They are often used to form shapes that are attached to items that have been constructed through other techniques (like handles for mugs).
Slip Casting
Slip Casting involves using specially designed molds that you pour liquified clay into to form the internal shape of the mold. The clay is poured into the mold and allowed to sit for a while so the mold can wick some of the water from the clay, causing a thin layer of more rigid clay to take the shape of the mold. The excess slip is then poured out of the mold and set aside to dry. When it has sat for enough time, the mold is opened and the hollow clay form is removed. Once removed the seams from the mold are scraped smooth, and the piece is allowed to dry further until it is ready to be bisque fired.
Check out this video supplied by Ceramic Art Daily on Slip Casting One Piece Slip Mold
The clay is poured into the mold and allowed to sit for a while so the mold can wick some of the water from the clay, causing a thin layer of more rigid clay to take the shape of the mold. The excess slip
slip
Barbotine is the French for ceramic slip, or a mixture of clay and water used for moulding or decorating pottery.
The three methods of handbuilding are pinching, coiling and slab building. Once you have experience with these three methods, you can make just about any object out of clay. It helps to start with pinching, and build upon the technique with coiling, before moving onto to slab construction.
It's a super brief intro to clay and the 4 basic techniques used (pinch, coil, slab, and wheel). The last slide (The Journey of Clay) helps to explain to students why it takes a while to get their clay projects back.
Most of my sculptures are loaded into the kiln when they are leather hard, before they are completely dry. At this stage, the clay is strong and not yet brittle, so it is an ideal time to move the piece. Drying can continue after the sculpture is safely in the kiln (3).
For joining clay where one or both pieces are partly or completely dry, or where extra strength is needed at the joint, it is best to make a paper clay glue.
Wait until the kiln has cooled below 125°F to open your lid. If you open it to soon, the glaze could craze and will no longer food safe since bacteria can grow in the small cracks.
Sculptures to be fired must be hollow. Care has to be taken that air is not trapped inside any part, and also that the thickness of the clay throughout is fairly consistent in order to minimise stresses and strains during the drying out process.
Kiln explosions are essentially the result of internal pressure surpassing the structural limits of pottery within the kiln. These events transpire when the build-up of pressure, often from steam generated by moisture within the clay or from gases released during the firing process, finds no avenue for escape.
If it remains unfired it will eventually crack and fall apart. Water based clay becomes brittle when dry. I don't have a kiln either but I looked around and found a ceramic studio that does firing for a small fee per piece, depending on the size.
While there are thousands of clay bodies available for purchase, the 3 basics types are porcelain, stoneware and earthenware. The maturity temperature, workability, and color of these 3 categories can vary based on what is added.
Clay minerals are composed essentially of silica, alumina or magnesia or both, and water, but iron substitutes for aluminum and magnesium in varying degrees, and appreciable quantities of potassium, sodium, and calcium are frequently present as well.
The three hand builiding methods are slab construction, coiling and pinching. Clay is first rolled out using either a slab roller or a normal baking rolling pin. After which, the slabs will be cut into your desired layout and then shaped into your final product.
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