Pinch Technique

For this project, we were asked to use the pinch technique to create 5 pinch pots and make a creation that is unique. The pinch pot technique is when you rotate the clay in your hands and slightly pinch the clay into a cup or pot form. To create these summative's while using 5 pinch pots, sometimes we needed more of a ball form, and to do this all we needed to do was take 2 pinch pots that were extremely close in size, and connect them at the ring at the top, with the scratch, scratch, water, attach technique. In the beginning, I didn't really have an idea as to what to make, but after looking over some examples and seeing people create dogs and other animals, the idea came to me that I wanted to make a teddy bear. GLAZE After seeing the final result without glaze, I instantly knew that I needed to go with a traditional brown to complete it which is when I chose ------- to complete this piece of artwork.

For this project, there were actually quite a few elements of design that were used. First and foremost was shape and form. I used shape when I was creating my sketch, seen in the last image above. When sketching I had to decide how I wanted the bear to turn out, and to do so I needed to figure out the shapes and sizes of each pinch pot to create the final piece. I used form when I was putting these pinch pots of all different shapes and sizes together, to create the final piece or form of a teddy bear. Next, I used texture. As you can see very well in the second to last photo, I decided to texture the bear to create a fuzzy sensation on it and make it look more realistic. Finally, to finish off the elements of design, I used color when deciding and glazing the final product. For the principles of design, I used unity and proportion. Unity was used when I was connecting all the pinch pots into one, to create the physique of a bear, and I used proportion when deciding the relative size I wanted the bear to be compared to a life-size teddy bear, and therefore contradicting that and creating the final piece.

To create this piece I used clay and formed it using the pinch pot technique, a scratch tool to connect the pots, a silvery smoothing tool to smooth out the pots, and again a scratch tool to create the correct textures, and finally a GLAZE . I am pretty proud of how this project turned out, as I wasn't really expecting it to look sort of realistic. I also really like the idea to add a bow tie because it adds some detail that wouldn't have been there without. A struggle that I had to overcome was the arms and legs, and the shapes of them and deciding that. I also struggled with this because they wouldn't stay attached very well so this was an obstacle that I had to overcome