Pinch pots are made out of clay. For this lesson we will be using air-dry clay, but oven-baked clay also works when creating one.
Pinch pots are hand-made and formed by pinching the clay into the desired shape. Pinch pots can be all kinds of shapes, but generally they look like a simple bowl.
There are many functions for a pinch pot. They can be used as a:
Jewelry container
Plant Pot
Bowl
Image sourced from First Palette
Image sourced from First Palette
Image sourced from Dayton Art Institute. Image created by artist Roy Lichtenstein.
Pinch pots are created by hand. Other types of pottery are created on a wheel. This is called wheel-thrown pottery.
Wheel-thrown pottery is very smooth with few bumps or mistakes because it is done with a machine. This pottery is also usually larger because it is not done by hand.
Pinch pots have blemishes or bumps because it is made by hand. Pinch pots are normally the size of a human hand or fist. (3 examples shown above)
Example of wheel-thrown pottery. Image sourced by Venice Clay Artists. Image created by artist Hsin-Chuen Lin.