Here is a step by step look at how to make pottery.
These are the steps we use every day in our studio. The process of making
pottery at our studio is basically the same as you will find at any other
true pottery studio in the world today. From raw clay to finished product
we follow the steps that have been established over the centuries by
potters on every continent. Every piece of pottery we make is hand
crafted. We do not use the shortcut methods of press moulding, buying
bisque wear from outside suppliers, or using mechanical devices to make
the pots. DaVinci does all the wheel throwing on an electric potters wheel
and builds all the slab pots by hand. Sparky helps fire the kilns and Yin does
the counting, stacking and organizing. The only moulding we do is some
slump moulding of a rectangular platter used for our bread dipping sets,
and even then each is made from a slab rolled on the slab roller and cut
by hand before being draped into a mould.
We work with different clay bodies depending on what
we are building and to obtain a bisqued product with which our glazes will
fit well. For wheel thrown pottery the clays are first "pugged" in a
pug mill to thoroughly blend them. Our pug mill was made for us by Sparky's
crew of unequaled mechanics and assemblers.
This machine is made with two
counter-rotating screw augers which take the clay we feed into the hopper
and mix it thoroughly, then push it through a single 3" outlet pipe,
accomplishing basically the same action as hand wedging. A good pug mill
such as this forces almost all the air out of the clay. (Some more
elaborate pug mills have vacuum pumps to try and remove every last bit of
air.)
If you click on an illustration it will get larger.
The clay is then briefly "wedged" by hand to establish a
consistency in the raw materials and align the clay particles and remove
any air left over from the pugging process. There are two types of wedging
we use. The Japanese style of wedging is being used in this
illustration. It enables the potter to wedge a large amount of clay at once but
does require some practice to perfect the technique. A simpler type of
wedging, forward or "Cow-head wedging", is often used by beginning potters
as it is easy to do with a minimum of practice.
For slab building pottery we use the clay directly from
the pug mill. The pugged clay is flattened by throwing it at an angle
on a canvas covered table. It is then placed on a piece of canvas, a
second piece of canvas is placed on top of it, and then the canvas and
clay "sandwich" is run between the rollers of the slab roller to
give a uniform thickness to the clay. (The slab roller is
similar in action to the wringers on an old washing machine.)
The slab is then carried to a table where pieces are cut
from it to be hand formed into pottery platters or sushi sets, for
example. Once the cut pieces have set for awhile they are easier to form.
Sometimes they may be dropped onto or into a form to give them a
particular shape. This is called slump moulding.
Once the piece has dried to "leather hardness" it
is trimmed and sponged and is then ready to completely dry in preparation
for the bisque firing.
For wheel throwing , once the clay is pugged and wedged
it is centered on the wheel. This is a very critical step as it is the
foundation of the pot. The pot is only as true and as strong as the
centering.
The next step is opening the centered clay so the
potter's hands can begin to pull the clay up vertically from both inside
and out.
Every wheel thrown pot comes from a cylinder. Vases are
tall thin ones and plates are short fat ones but they all begin as a
cylinder.
The cylinder is drawn to the desired height and then
shaping begins.
Excess water is removed from the bowl with a sponge which
also smoothes the surface and contributes to the strength of the finished
bowl when it is in your kitchen environment.
The freshly thrown bowl is then removed from the wheel
and allowed to dry to a "leather hard" state at which point it can be
trimmed to remove excess clay from the bottom and establish a foot.
Once the pot is trimmed it is again set on the shelf to
dry. This will take several days for a bowl this size as the drying rate
must be carefully controlled to prevent cracking. We have found these
bakers racks are ideal for drying as they allow a uniform air flow around
the pieces. Plastic sheets enclose the shelves and are adjusted to control
the drying rate.
After the pot is completely dry it is ready to be bisque
fired. This initial firing removes the physical and chemical water so that
the piece can be glazed without returning to mud and breaking. The
temperature we bisque at is approximately 1700 degrees Fahrenheit. Many
potters prefer to bisque at a higher temperature as more impurities are
forced from the clay, however for the glazes we use this temperature works
well. Bisque pottery made from our red Alberta clays takes on a terra
cotta appearance, similar to the flower pots you see in a florists shop.
The next stage in the creation of the pot is the
application of glaze. Every potter has his or her own formulation for
glazes and many of these are a closely guarded secret as the unique
properties imparted by a particular glaze fired on a particular clay body,
combined with the characteristics of the design of the piece are what
identifies the pot as belonging to a certain potter. However, before we
apply the glaze we must prepare the piece.
First we check the pot and remove any bumps or
imperfections we see. We may use a 100 grit sandpaper or a kitchen paring
knife edge to smooth surfaces. We then sponge the entire surface of
the pot to remove any dust left from sanding to provide a clean surface
for the glaze to adhere to.
Next the bottom of the pot is placed in a pan of paraffin
wax so no glaze will stick to this area. If we glazed the bottom the pot
would become a permanent part of the kiln shelf, and that's not a good
thing!
If the pot has a lid, such as a casserole or bean pot for
example, we apply a wax emulsion with a brush to the areas where the
lid and pot meet. This keeps the glaze from the lid and pot from melting
together and forming a solid sculpture with the lid bonded firmly in
place!
Glaze can be applied by several methods but we prefer to
dip our pots into a container of glaze. Next, using dipping tongs the pot
is totally submerged in glaze, lifted out and set aside until it dries.
Notice how no glaze adheres to the waxed area.
Once the pot is glazed, it is returned to the kiln for a
second firing, in which the clay and the glaze are matured, meaning
stoneware is brought to a temperature at which it is no longer porous and
the glaze achieves a glasslike finish. In the case of our pots which are
fired in an oxidation environment in computer controlled electric kilns
this temperature is over 2100 degrees Fahrenheit. This final temperature
is decided by trial and error and is again influenced by the nature of
your clay body and the glazes you use. Kilns can be fired to cone or
temperature. We have our own firing schedule which allows us to fire to
temperature over a specified time in controlled increments.
After achieving the desired temperature the pots are
allowed to slowly cool over the next 24 hours before the kiln is opened
and we see the finished pot for the first time. In some ways every time is
like the first time as the "Kiln Gods" can sometimes really surprise you.
The finished pot is then given a final sanding and dusting before being
packed away.
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