Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to your Art, Craft, and Design lesson.

This is lesson two of five on ceramics.

My name's Liz, and I'll be guiding you through this lesson.

Now, previously, you learnt about the slabbing technique, and you rolled out your clay in order to make tiles.

You then learnt how to join those tiles together using a scoring and slip technique.

You also learnt how to draw into the clay in order to add detail.

Now, in this lesson, you'll continue to learn some new techniques, and you'll be evaluating your progress as it develops.

So let's take a look at what equipment you'll need for this lesson.

For this lesson, you will need your sketchbook to record your ideas and your learning.

You'll also need a pencil and some coloured pencils, or you could use felt pens or crayons instead.

You'll need some clay, either natural earthen clay or air drying clay, some clay tools, and a clean smooth surface to work on.

And you need to cover that surface with some canvas material, or a dampened tea towel, or a plastic vinyl place mat.

You'll also need some paint and brushes because you're going to add a design to some clay, and acrylic paint is the best, but you can use ready-mix paint with a small amount of PVA glue instead, and as you'll be working with clay, it's best to wear an apron or an old t-shirt or top to cover your clothes.

During this lesson, you will recap on your previous learning.

You'll be learning about the pinching technique and you'll be making a pinch pot.

You'll experiment with impressing objects into clay in order to add detail.

You'll also learn about the coiling technique and you'll make a simple coiled pot.

And finally, you will gather ideas in your sketchbook and paint a design onto clay.

So look out for the key words in the lesson, and they'll be in a bold-colored font.

And the keywords are pinching, which is shaping clay by pressing and pinching out a ball of clay using your thumb and fingers, coiling, which is shaping clay by rolling it out into long sausage-like coils which can then be joined together, impressing, which is pushing objects into soft clay to create a design.

So before the lesson begins, let's have a quick recap on your previous learning.

So the answer to this question is either true or false.

The technique of rolling clay flat is known as impressing.

Do you think the answer is true or do you think the answer is false? It is false.

The correct answer is slabbing.

Impressing is pushing objects into soft clay to create a design.

So this question also has a true or false answer.

Natural clay can be heated up in a kiln.

Is this true or is it false? The answer is true.

Natural clay can be heated up in a kiln, and the first stage of heating up natural clay in a kiln is known as the bisque or biscuit stage.

So we're going to start the lesson by learning about a technique known as pinching clay.

Now, pinching is a way of shaping clay by pressing and pinching out a ball of clay using your thumb and fingers.

And on the screen, are two examples of pots that have been made using the pinching technique.

Now, the pot on the right-hand side of your screen has got a curvy-shaped rim, and the rim is the top edge of the pot.

And the curve on that rim has been made by pushing the clay with the thumb and the finger.

So the pot that you can see on the screen on the right-hand side has been made using air drying clay.

So firstly, you need to take a lump of clay and roll it out so it fits comfortably inside your hands, and then rolling on your mat helps to create a smoother surface for your clay.

Once your clay is a ball shape, push your thumb into the centre of the pot, but don't press too hard or your thumb will push right through and make a hole in the bottom of your pot.

Now, pinch out the edges of your pot so that they become thinner.

Now, if your clay starts to dry out, and this can happen when your hands get warm, then you can wet your hand with water and smooth it over the pot.

Now, you can also just lightly spray your pot with water, or you could add some water to a sponge and then smooth that over onto your pot.

So you can see there, I'm just making sure all of the edges around my pot are the same thickness.

It's your turn now, and I'd like you to follow the instructions on the screen and have a play with your clay.

And if it doesn't work first time, just roll up your clay again and start again.

Just make sure that when you do this, your clay is still soft enough to work with, and adding some water to your clay and working that into the clay can help to soften it, but just be careful you don't add too much or your clay will become quite soggy and hard to handle and shape.

You can always rewind the video back and watch the video clip to see how I made my pinch pot, if you need to.

So remember, step one is, firstly, roll your clay out into a ball.

Step two, press your thumb into the centre of the ball of clay.

Step three, using your thumb and fingers, pinch out the walls of your pot to the size that you want.

And then, finally, smooth the outside and inside surface of your pot using some water on your hand or a bit of water on a piece of sponge, smooth it all down, and when you're finished, restart the video.

So how did you get on? Did you enjoy experimenting and making a pinch pot? Was there anything that you found a bit tricky? Now, if you can, take a photograph of your pinch pot, print it out, and stick it in your sketchbook, or you can draw and label it in your sketchbook.

Now, next, we're going to learn about another technique, which is called coiling.

It can be a bit tricky at first, but with practise, you will get better.

Now, on the screen, you can see two pots which have been made out of clay by two different artists.

The one on the left was made by Magdalene Odundo, and the one on the right was made by Jennifer Lee.

Now, how do you think they were made? Do you think these have been hand-built or do you think they've been created on a potter's wheel? So both artists have hand-built their pots, and they've used a technique known as coiling.

Now, the coils of clay are built up on top of each other in order to create height and shape.

So coiling is shaping clay by rolling it out into long sausage-like coils which can be joined together.

Now, you need to start off with a ball of clay, and then you start to roll it backwards and forwards in a nice even movement there.

When you roll the clay, you need to try and apply an even pressure so that your coils are an even shape and an even thickness.

Now, you may find it a bit tricky at first, but you can always squash the coil up again into a ball and then have another go.

So on the video, you can see me rolling out a coil and then I've got a second one, and what I'm aiming to do there is to roll it out to about the same length as the coil I've just made and the same thickness.

So in order to make your coiled pot, first of all, you'll start off with your pinch pot.

And you can see in the video, I've got my pinch pot there, and I've also prepared some coils in readiness to build my pot.

Now, you'll add your first coil and place it on top of the pinch pot, and then attach the coil to the pinch pot by blending it with your fingers.

Now, you need to blend the coil all the way around the edges of the pinch pot, on the outside and on the inside.

So you keep adding the coils, blending them in one at a time.

Now, if you use a coil and you find that it's not long enough, you can always break off another piece of clay and just blend it in with your coil.

Now, if your clay starts to dry out, you can wet your hand and smooth it over the clay, or lightly spray it with water, or as you can see in the video there, I've just sprayed some water onto a sponge, and you can use that to smooth down the clay to smooth out any cracks that may be in the clay in case it's getting dry.

Now, if you position a coil slightly on the inner edge of the coil below, the shape of your pot will start to go inwards.

And if you place the coil on the outer edge of the coil below, the shape will start to go outwards, and you can use your hands to shape the pot while it's still soft so that you can get it to the desired shape that you'd like.

In the video, you can see I'm just adding on a final coil to my pot and just again blending it all in, smoothing it down.

So as well as starting with a pinch pot, you can also start with a tile, and on the screen, you can see a photograph of a circular tile and a circular template that I use, and I cut the tile out, and then I place the coil on top of the tile and build up my pot in just the same way as I would with my pinch pot.

Then, the video, just smoothing everything down using my fingers, a little bit of water as well, just to get a nice, smooth finish to the pot.

So it's your turn now.

If you want to start with a new pinch pot, that's fine, and you'd like to keep the one you've already made.

Aim to build on three or four coils onto your pinch pot.

You can add more if you want to.

Let's have a quick recap of the instructions.

So firstly, you make your pinch pot, or you use the one you've already got, then you prepare some of your coils by rolling out the clay, and then the next stage is to blend the first coil onto the pinch pot, blending on the inside and the outside, and then continue to add the coils by placing them on top of each other and blending them together.

Now, you can rewind and watch the video of me making coiled pot again.

And then, when you've finished your coil pot, if you can, take a photograph of it and stick it in your sketchbook, and if you're not able to do that, then draw it in your sketchbook.

And when you've finished your pot, restart the video.

So in this part of the lesson, you'll be experimenting with more ways to add detail to your clay work.

Now, you can create patterns, lines, shapes, or texture by impressing into clay, and this is achieved by pressing different shaped objects into it.

And suitable objects for impressing into clay include the clay stamps, which you can see on the left-hand side of the screen.

So the stamps are on the left-hand side at the bottom, and the design on the stamp is carved out of wood so that when it's pressed into the clay, the patterns and shapes can be seen easily.

So on the top-left side, you can see a piece of clay where I've pressed the stamp into it.

Now, you can use all sorts of different objects, including those shown on the screen.

So you could use a fork, some string, the end of a cotton reel.

So it's your turn now to experiment.

I'd like you just flatten out some clay with your hand about the size of the tile that you've previously made, and then find some objects to impress into the clay.

Now, firstly, check with an adult before you select the objects that you're going to use, and then press them into the clay and see what happens when you press each one in.

Which one works best and could be easily seen in the clay? Which ones create the best shape, pattern, or line? And then, restart the video when you've finished experimenting.

So the images on the screen show designs which have been painted onto natural clay using glaze.

And glaze is added to natural clay as decoration, but also makes it waterproof when fired in a kiln.

Now, these particular designs are known as Bizarre Ware and were created by the ceramic artist Clarice Cliff.

The designs were hand-painted onto fired clay.

Now, Clarice Cliff is well-known for her brightly-colored, decorative designs which were used to cover clay pots, jugs, bowls, teapots, and many more items that could be used in the home.

So look closely at the images on the screen.

What colours and shapes can you see? Can you describe the pattern? What does it remind you of? Now, think about your answers or discuss your answers with someone else.

So the colours used in the design are the primary colours of red, blue, and yellow, and the shapes are geometric circles, one in the centre and one on the outside, and different shaped triangles.

Now, notice how the colours and shapes have been carefully placed next to each other to create a pattern.

Now, I think it looks like the blades of a windmill spinning around.

What do you think? So in your sketchbook, I'd like you to draw some designs that have been inspired by the work of Clarice Cliff.

Now, using shapes and colours, explore different design ideas that could be painted onto clay.

And I'd like you to include two or three different geometric shapes in each design and try and draw two or three different designs.

Now, before thinking about colours, look at which paints you have.

If you've got the primary colours of red, blue, and yellow, that means you can also make the secondary colours of orange, purple, and green.

And if you've got black and white, you can make other shades of colours too.

Now, use colour pencils, or felt pens, or crayons to colour in the designs in your sketchbook.

Now, on the left-hand side, you can see a page from my sketch book, and you can see I've explored some different designs based on different colours and geometric shapes.

Now, when you've finished having a go at your designs, restart the video.

So first of all, I'd like you to just roll out a piece of clay.

You can either roll it out flat and use a template, and cut it out as in the shape of a tile, or you can just flatten it down with your hand and smooth it.

Don't take too big a piece because your clay will need to dry out a little bit before you can paint onto it.

And then, I'd like you to choose a design from your sketchbook, a favourite design that you've got, and then experiment with painting it onto the clay.

Now, I've got my sketchbook here, and I've stuck in my designs that I practised.

So I actually did a couple, so I experimented with painting two different designs onto clay, and you can also see those on the right-hand side of the screen.

Have a go and then restart the video when you're finished.

So if you're able to, take a photograph of your painted designs and stick them next to the other photographs or drawings from this lesson.

So here are the two clay tiles that I painted.

That's the first one.

That's my second one.

And as I showed you before, here are my designs in my sketchbook, and I printed out photographs of my tiles and put them into my sketchbook as well.

Write about what worked well in the lesson and what could have been even better.

Now, on the screen is a photograph of some impressing that I did with a fork, and I practised that on a tile first of all.

And I decided to impress the rim of my coil pot with a fork, and I did this whilst the clay was still soft.

Now, some of the marks are a bit uneven because I pressed harder on some than others.

And I've also painted my coil pot, and I decided to use the design on this tile and replicate it on my pot.

So I chose this design because I like how the green and blue shapes, and the diamonds and triangles stand out from the yellow background.

So I painted my pot yellow first and then painted on the blue and the green designs.

Now, after the lesson, you could paint your coil pot too, but make sure you allow it to dry out first.

And if you are using natural clay, just take care, as the clay will be quite fragile.

Air drying clay is less fragile.

So well done, that was super work you've done in this lesson.

You've used lots of different clay techniques, including pinching, coiling, impressing, and painting onto clay.

If you'd like to share your work, and we'd really love to see it, please ask your parent or carer to take a photograph of it and share it with Oak National on Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.

See you in the next lesson.