Textured Pinch Pots

Reflection:

During this project, I learned how to make a pinch pot. One major error that I made at the beginning of this project was making the pinch pot too thin. I made this mistake when making my first pinch pot when we were seeing with our hands and not using our sense of sight, instead using touch by itself. Once it was too thin it began to dry out and crack up. I then realized that I just needed to start over and make sure that the edges don't get too thin again. If I were to teach someone how to make a pinch pot I would make sure to tell them that they needed to make sure that their clay had enough plasticity in it to be able to be worked. Plasticity is how much the clay is able to be moved around and formed. In order to maintain plasticity you must make sure that your clay maintains a moist texture so it doesn't dry out. Another helpful tip that I would give someone if they were just learning how to make a pinch pot is how helpful rubbing a little bit of water on your clay can be. Adding water to your clay creates a slip which is a form of very liquidy clay which is very helpful to smooth out your clay and fix cracks in it.

Contrast is a very important and crucial addition to have in your pinch pot. Contrast is important because it can draw attention to a focal point of your piece, for example, when we were adding sprigs (little pieces of clay that are pressed into a mold and then added to your pot, creating an object that protrudes from your pot) if you want the sprigs to be looked at when viewing your pinch pot it is important to add a contrasting colored glaze to the sprigs. This will help the viewer's gaze be moved towards the sprigs and they will become the focal point of your pot, this is how contrast can make the focal point of your pot really pop out. For example on my pinch pot which included sprigs, I painted a bright orange glaze onto each of the sprigs which led to them being very clear to see and bring the attention of the viewer to them. Another reason why contrast is important to have on your pinch pots is that it adds a lot of valuable visual interest. If all of the colors of the glazes that you put onto your pots are the same or very similar, it will become somewhat boring to look at because it will all look the same. However, adding contrast to your pots will make them much more interesting and cool to look at which is very valuable.

If I were to make an additional pinch pot I think that I would want to make an upside down pot that could be turned into sort of a bell or windchime. I would make a handle on the top of it so that it could be hung from a piece of string or rope. On the inside of it I would make a half ring sort of shape so that I could tie a clay ball onto it with another piece of string. I think that it would be a very cool and practical pinch pot to make. I could then hang it up outside and listen to the song it makes when the wind blows through it. As for glazes, I think that I would want to make the inside a much darker color such as a black or dark blue. On the outside, I would make some sort of pattern or texture which I would then use a dark purple underglaze stain on to emphasize the texture, from there I would mix bluebell with a few layers of speckled blue gray. This would all come together into my last pinch pot if I could make one.