Modelling Pots

1Two ways to make a pot by hand

You can make a pot without a potter's wheel. Here are two ways that potters all over the world have used for thousands of years.

2Method 1: the pinch pot

This is the quickest way to make a small bowl or cup.

1. Roll a piece of clay into a ball, about the size of an orange.
2. Push your thumb into the middle, stopping about 1 cm from the bottom.
3. Pinch the wall gently between your thumb and fingers. Turn the ball a little, and pinch again. Keep turning and pinching.
4. Work from the bottom up until the walls are about as thick as your little finger all the way round.
5. Tap the bottom gently on the board so the pot stands flat.

3Method 2: the coil pot

This is how many Rwandan potters build big pots.

1. Flat base: press a ball of clay into a flat circle, as thick as your finger.
2. Roll coils: roll long snakes of clay on the board, all about as thick as your finger.
3. Score and slip: scratch the top of the base with a stick (this is scoring) and brush on a little slip. Slip is clay mixed with water into a thick cream. It works like glue.
4. Stack: lay a coil round the edge and press it down. Score, slip and add the next coil on top. To make the pot wider, place each coil a little outside the last one; to make it narrower, place it a little inside.
5. Smooth: use your fingers or a smooth stick to blend the coils together, inside and outside, so no gaps are left.

4Drying and firing

Let your pot dry slowly in the shade for several days. If it dries too fast in the hot sun, it cracks. When it is completely dry, an adult can fire it in an open fire of wood and dry grass. The fire makes it hard for ever.

5Look closely

• What is the potter doing with her hand inside the pot?
• Find the finished pots around her. Some are grey and some are orange-brown. Which do you think have already been through the fire?
• Look at the tall pot on the right. Its surface is covered with tiny pressed marks. You will learn to decorate clay like this in a later lesson.

Try it yourself

Try each one first, then tap Show answer to check.