Creating basic shapes with pinch pottery is simple and fun, but how can you use this technique to make intricately detailed sculptures? While it might seem that you won’t be able to add details to your artwork with pinch pottery, it is possible! So, how would you turn your clay into a stunning piece of art with the pinch pot technique? Let us find out here!
Step-By-Step Process For Creating Stunning Pinch Pot Sculptures
1. Plan The Sculpture:
Before sculpting your artwork with the pinch pot technique, you need to plan or visualize it. For example, if you are working on creating a mermaid with pinch pottery, you need to divide the entire body into parts like head, torso, and tail. Now, imagine these parts in a rather simpler form. Like, the head can be an oval or round shape, the torso can be a solid or hollow cylinder, and finally, the tail can be a tapered cylinder shape.
Now, note this down on a piece of paper to ensure to can remember what goes where, especially if your artwork has multiple parts.
2. Wedge Your Clay And Separate It Into Multiple Parts:
For sculpting to be easy for hand-building, your clay has to be highly malleable and easy on your hands. Moreover, it shouldn’t have any air bubbles as they can distort the artwork while drying and the shape won’t form properly. So, make sure you wedge the clay for at least 5 to 10 minutes. Now, separate the clay into multiple parts depending on your sculpture. This is the point where you assign how much clay goes into which part.
For example, if you want the head to be the biggest, the largest chunk of clay should be allotted to this part. And, while you are working on one section of the sculpture, make sure other clay pieces are kept wrapped in a damp towel or in a ziplock bag to ensure they don’t dry off. This gives you enough time to work on each section without having to hurry up.
3. Start By Forming The Sculpture-One Section At A Time:
- Torso:
While many artists start with the head, working first with the torso is much easier and faster. This is because the torso is the biggest part of the body in most cases. Of course, there can be sculptures where the head is the biggest, so the ultimate decision is yours. When shaping the torso, you can pinch out additional details like clothing or jewelry, or simply attach them later. The latter method allows for better details as compared to pinching out the details. However, these details need to be added before the clay dries out to a leather-hard stage.
- Head:
Start by rolling the clay into a small ball-like structure. Now, you can shape it into an oval, face-like form. However, you can also experiment and go with rectangular or square heads to give your artwork a unique touch. To define the facial features, you can pinch out the nose and make indents for the eyes and mouth. Alternatively, you can create small shapes with some additional clay and attach them to the head with the scoring technique for a more defined look.
- Hands And Arms:
Make two cylindrical shapes for the hands and arms and shape them accordingly. You can leave out the fingers if you don’t wish to add a lot of detail to the arms. A simple cylindrical shape with tapered ends would work as a hand as well. You can attach small round beads on the arms to make it look like it is a bracelet made of pearls. However, you can also experiment as you like.
- Lower Body:
The lower body would carry the weight of the entire structure, so make sure it is stable enough to hold things in place without breaking apart. You don’t always have to make the legs for the lower body. If your sculpture is a fairy or a girl wearing a skirt, you will find it easier to sculpt a skirt as a base rather than pinch the legs into shape. Regardless of what you prefer as the base, make sure the shape is sturdy and wide enough to ensure it doesn’t crumble due to the weight of the sculpture.
- Hair And Additional Details:
Using a scoring tool and with some pinching, you can add other details to the artwork or you can form them separately and place them on the sculpture. If you are in search of a reliable scoring tool for all your pinch pot projects, the Pengxiaomei Clay Scoring Tool should be your go-to option. Given its stainless steel construct, the material doesn’t corrode when working with wet clay and water.
4. Attaching Different Parts:
A lot of beginner artists make the common mistake of simply attaching the parts without the score & slip technique. While simply blending the parts might seem like an easy fix at first, this doesn’t last long. You might soon see cracks form as the artwork dries. Even if it doesn’t crack during the drying process, you might see some flaking and cracking during the kiln firing process.
The best way to attach two parts or assemble your sculpture to perfection is by scoring the place where the part has to be joined. Now, apply some slip to this scored area. Do the same for the other part that would be joined with the base part. Now, blend and smooth the seams to ensure there are no gaps with the use of some water and additional clay.
Once you have successfully assembled the parts, let it dry out completely to a bone-dry state before painting or glazing for the firing process.
Pro-Tip:
If your sculpture is very big and requires additional support for stability, you can use a polystyrene/styrofoam base to build your structure. For example, if you are creating a giant head, create a rough shape similar to the head with a styrofoam sheet and then build with clay on top of this. Doing this will add more strength to the sculpture. However, for smaller pieces, this isn’t necessary!
Conclusion
Remember, creating a pinch pot sculpture from scratch requires proper planning and breaking down the artwork into simpler segments for easier sculpting. Make sure you sculpt each part separately to achieve better details and a sturdier make. Additionally, you can add a round or square base to the sculpture to give it more stability, especially if it is very big. Remember, when creating a pinch pot sculpture, you can use additional tools like a scoring tool, sponge, pottery rib, and other sculpting tools to add more details to your artwork.
