Stuart Altmann on tue 20 jul 99
Two suggestions to help little ones make coils. First, because they are
not very strong, the clay should be as soft as possible without sticking.
Working on canvas-covered wood or other firm absorbent material helps here.
Second--and this hint often helps adults whose coils resist becoming
cylindrical--get them to apply downward pressure mostly on the push stroke
and to have the finger tips lower than the coil top, so that they are, as
it were, pushing downward as well as forward.
And now, the magical 60-second pots. Any time an adult tells me that they
can't make a pot, I show them how to make a pot in 60 seconds, starting
with nothing but a small ball of clay. Step 1.--Put the ball of clay on a
table (again, canvas covered if possible) and use your fist to pound it
into a smallish pancake, keeping its thickness as uniform as possible.
This is the favorite step of kiddies. Pound! Pound! Pound!
Step 2.--Pick up the pancake, hold it flat in the palm of one hand, and
press it firmly onto the elbow of your other arm, which is held flexed,
hand upward. An overlap or two around the perimeter of the pancake probably
will be needed to get all of it against the elbow.
Step 3.--Remove the bowl (for that's what you now have) from your elbow and
tap it straight down firmly on a table, so as to flatten out a bit of
bottom. Finished! Glaze and fire these, and watch the glow on your
friends' faces at having a useable pot that they made themselves.
Given just a demonstration beforehand, untrained adults can make an elbow
pot in less than 60 seconds. Kiddies take longer because "getting there is
half the fun."
Stuart Altmann
email: salt@princeton.edu office 'phone: 609/258-4520
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