Clay Play (2) Too
It is joy to work with these amazing (no, I am NOT biased!) students after school, creating in our CREST Enrichment “Hand Building with Clay” class. Above are our pinch pot pieces, drying in my studio.
Below, students in first through fifth grades learn to roll coils and join them together to create potentially large vessels…adding texture, leaving the texture created by the coils, or flattening out that texture to create a whole other look and feel.
Building up the pots step by step,
by rolling the coils, and pinching the end of one onto the beginning of the next.
Beginning with a spiral to create the bottom or “floor” of the pot.
Building up with coils takes patience, dedication, effort.
Starting with balls of clay, which are then rolled into a simple coil shape between the hands…
students then elongate the “rolls” (coils) on the table, trying not to flatten them out.
One coil is rolled into a spiral to create the bottom of the vessel.
The bottom of the pot can be smoothed out if desired…
and then built upon with the next coils.
How amazing to think that it begins with a deceptively “humble” mound of clay, air-dry clay in our case… and an intention learn, build and create.