Pinch Pots

I rarely use pinch pots in my day to day ceramics work, but there is something very satisfying about creating vessels using nothing but your hands, the process of pinching and manipulating the clay to create a simple vessel form creates a real connection to the clay. It’s potentially one of the best processes a ceramic artist can utilise to learn about the material qualities of clay. How far can the material be stretched, thinned out, opened  up and retain it’s shape. 

In the past I have joined two pinch pots together to create spheres, this opens up the potential of a pinch pot to create a whole range of both functional and sculptural items. I have also used a pinch pot as a starting point for a vessel, adding coils to build the structure.

I made three simple pinch pots as part of this task, I deliberately made them without a foot ring or defined base as I wanted them to gently rock, the edges are turned in and thinned. They have been partially glazed using a commercial brush on glaze combination.