Clay Pinch Pot Projects

Basic Pinch Pot

• Roll a ball of clay. Stick your thumb into the ball and place your fingers outside the ball. Pinch the sides of the ball between your thumb and four fingers, stretching the ball and widening the hole where your thumb has been inserted. Take your thumb out and look at the clay. The hole will be the interior of your pot, the sides of the ball will be the exterior. Put the thumb back into the hole. Pinch the sides of the pot with your fingers and thumb, rotating the pot as you go so that each side is pinched evenly. As you pinch the sides of the clay, the walls of the pot should begin to grow up and out. Set the pot down on a table and press the pot down so the bottom flattens. Pick up the pot again and continue to pinch until you are satisfied with the shape.

Pinch Pot Animal

• Turn the body of your pinch pot into the body of an animal by adding legs to the bottom and a neck and head to the side. You can also add other appendages to your animal, such as wings or tails. To make a turtle, turn your pot upside down and use it as the turtle's shell. Use your ceramics tools to give the outside of the pinch pot textures like fur or scales.

Two Pinch Pot Sphere

• Form two pinch pots of the same size and shape. Place the rims of these two pots together and smooth the clay so that they form a perfect hollow ball. Use this ball for the body of a larger sculpture like an animal's body, a person's body, a head, a sports ball or an egg. This is a useful project for a person intending to fire her pinch pot because a solid ball of clay larger than approximately 1 inch thick will explode in the kiln. Remember that air bubbles will explode in the kiln as well, so you'll need to poke a very small hole in your ball in order to let out the air in the hollow center.

Functional Additions

• Add functional pieces to your pot to make it more useful. Form a lid for your pinch pot by flattening a piece of clay and cutting it to the size of the pot's opening. To prevent the lid from sliding off, attach a coil to the interior that fits inside the rim of the pot. Attach a ball of clay to the top of the lid for easy lifting. For another useful attachment, a handle may be applied to one or both sides of the pinch pot for easy lifting. Attachments will be more solidly glued to the pot if they are "scored" first -- meaning that hash marks should be made in any place where two pieces of clay will touch each other, and a light layer of water should be dabbed on the hash marks before placing the clay together.