Pinch Technique

The assignment was to practice making pinch pots and then combining at least 5 pinch pots so make some sort of project. For the summative piece I originally wanted to make a couple of turtles stacked on some rocks with a snake rapping around the bottom of the rock. This is shown on the paper sketch and in part of the second picture shown above. They are in ascending order of from when I first started, along the way, and when I finished the actual construction part. I did my best with this project and had to work through some issues including hand problems and having a hard time smoothing the clay over. I decided to go with the flow for the rest of the project and ended up making macaroons stacked on top of each other with a snake around the bottom and a turtle on the top of the macaroons. I also decided to make it functional because I don't like knick knacks so I figured I would make something that could get some use. I also made a little mouse type looking dude which is the last image above which was part of the pinch technique practice.

When creating pinch pots you should first knead some clay to get all the air bubbles out, then roll it into a ball and start pinching it around in a circle to make a sort of semi circle shape like a bowl. I was challenged by kneading the clay and smoothing it out but this I think will get better with time.

One thing I could have done differently was finding a better way to smooth my clay out on the final project. I could have also worked on making the macaroon tops/bottoms more symmetrical around. Some areas tended to be thinner than others and I tried my hardest but I could try other ways to improve. This project relates to my life because I sort of just go with the flow and make the best of things sort of like this pinch pot project.