Some of my Clay work

Hand building pottery :

"Handbuilding" is working with clay by hand using only simple tools, not the pottery wheel.The best part of hand building pottery is ,you don’t need any expensive tools to learn this art.so if you are really interested in claying with me,gather  some of the following tools which r easily available just around you.

·        

      You can work on the clay simply on your kitchen slab or your dining table. All you need is a hard surface.

·         Brush

·         Sponge

·         Toothpick

·         Water

·         Roller

Few basic techniques of Hand building pottery are :

1. Slab technique

2.Coil method

3. Pinch pots

4. Hollow ball technique

 Here are some pictures of clay work done by me till now.

This was my first creation.A leaf shaped coaster using slab technique. Making correct slab is very important . If there are any bubbles left during the process of making slab then the piece will crack during baking process.You can cut the slab and can give any shape and impression on it when it becomes slightly dry i.e in a leather hard state.

This is another wall piece made using slab technique.Again in this the impression are given when the slab is in the leather hard state.

The coil pot: I actually learn so much while making this pot. Coil patterns always fascinate me more. I have incorporated 2-3 patterns in this single pot. By coiling, you can make a pot as big as you want. Some people make a long coil pot and then smudge them to give it a smooth finish. But I find coiled pots more beautiful than the simple pots. Here is another piece I made using same technique.

A pot  made using a combination of  coil method and slab method.

This is a  clay piece in which you can put a small candle .This looks very beautiful when lit at night with lights off.Can be specially used in Diwali days. This is made using pinch pot technique.Again there is no limitations of the things you can make using pinch pot technique.

This is a candle stand in which I have used slab technique and rest my own creativity. I have put wires inside to make it stand this way. Now I am just waiting to get it baked and colour it to give it a final look.

This is a long pot made using a pinch pot technique. To make the pot this long I have used wooden rollar.After  completing the pot,it has to be dried till it reaches its leather hard state.I have made these flowers with clay seperately and paste them  on the pot using slip,which acts as a glue for pasting .

This is one of the most interesting thing I have learned and made. This is a hollow ball technique. In this technique I have made a ball first which was absolutely hollow from inside.quite a interesting way to do this.Then It has to be dried .Once dried,we can give any impressions on it or do some cutout work as I have done here.This has to be done very patiently.

Mask making is a different art alltogether.This type of mask you must have seen in handicraft fairs.mask making is a part of sculpturing which requires lots of patience and accuracy.Here I have made Tribal masks.Even I have made mistakes making this as this requires lots of practice. I am still working in it and will surely come with morw accurate masks.