Lesson video

Hello and welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Ms. Holland, and I will be teaching you today.

So today, our lesson is called "3D Design: Clay Construction Techniques," and this is part of our unit Foundation Workshops: An introduction to the areas of study.

Should we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you will have explored different methods of clay construction to build a sculptural form.

And your outcomes may look like these.

So a wide range and variety of outcomes.

Our keywords today are pinch, coil, and slab.

In the context of this lesson, pinch means shaping clay by pressing with fingers and thumb; coil means rolling and stacking long strands of clay; and slab is flattening clay sheets and joining them to build forms. And we're gonna be exploring these in much more detail as we progress through the lesson.

So our lesson is in two parts.

The first part, we're gonna start developing these clay construction skills.

And then in the second part, we're gonna start exploring figurative form through clay.

So let's get started.

Develop clay construction skills.

Let's have a look at these two pots.

What do they have in common? Look really closely at them and think about how the main shapes may have been formed, how they may have been constructed.

Look really closely.

Let's see what our pupils have said.

So Jun has said, "They look like they have been formed by a single, rolled piece of clay." Do you agree with that? Can you spot any differences? What are the differences? Well, Laura says, "The cup," the image on the right, "Looks like it started with the same basic technique," so this basic technique of a single, rolled piece of clay, "But extra methods were then used to add layers, textures, and, of course, facial features." Did you spot the facial features there? True or false? Check for understanding.

Basic clay techniques are only for beginners.

True or false? Let's have a look.

Well done.

Yes, it's false, but why? Let's see.

Yup, simple clay techniques can be used and then complex and expressive sculptural forms can be used to build upon them.

Just like that cup we saw before.

A simple clay technique was used to construct it.

And then more complex things were added and built upon on top.

So what is ceramics? It's a beautiful picture here.

Ceramics are objects made from clay or other natural materials that are shaped and then fired in a kiln.

Ceramic objects can be constructed using hand-built techniques, so singular one-off pieces, all produced as a large-scale factory production.

Think about the crockery we may use at school or at home, the plates, the bowls.

Do you know of any local ceramicists? So do you have any local ceramicists in your area? Hmm? Perhaps you could research that.

Clay can be constructed using three core hand-building techniques.

The first is the pinch technique, the second is the coil technique, and the third is the slab technique.

And that's the technique that Jun felt was used in that first image we saw.

So we have pinch, we have coil, and we have slab.

Each construction has its own strengths, so you may choose to use it for certain reasons.

So looking at a pinch pot, pinch is shaping clay with our fingers and our thumb.

Pinching is simple and quick to learn.

So it may be a pot that you first start developing when you're younger.

It's an effective method to control thickness easily 'cause we can use our fingers and thumbs to control the thickness.

And it's good for making small bowls or rounded, organic forms. So if you were thinking about creating a rounded, organic form, you may well want to use pinch as your first construction technique.

A coil, a coil bowl, so coil, it means rolling and stacking long strands.

We can see that this pupil here has rolled lots of long strands and is now stacking them.

This is a technique that's useful for building larger and taller forms, maybe like a vase.

It's flexible enough for curves or irregular shapes.

And it's a very strong method where the coils are smoothed and joined together, so it has a good strength to it.

And finally, we have the slab technique.

And this is a slab teapot.

And slab means flattening sheets of clay, so making them flat and then joining them together.

It is ideal for creating flat surfaces, straight edges.

So thinking of shapes such as boxes or plates or very geometric forms. So compared to the pinch pot, which is very good for organic forms, slab is very good for constructing quite geometric forms like this teapot.

And it's easy to combine with hand-building and other techniques.

So perhaps it's a very good technique to start off with and then add with other techniques.

Check for understanding.

What is the name of the method where you flatten sheets of clay and join them together? I think you'll have got this.

Well done.

It's slab, slabbing.

And remember that's really good for geometric forms. Clay construction techniques can be developed by practicing with small manageable amounts of clay.

So not starting off with a large sculpture, but actually practicing and practicing techniques.

They require practice, so it's best to start with small, simple products to build your confidence, such as a pinch pot.

So have you ever made something in clay using pinch, coil, or slab methods? Have you ever made anything before? What have you made before? Lucas says, "I made a small bowl in primary school using the pinch method." I wonder who else has done that.

I certainly did that at primary school.

Sofia says, "I built a pot with coils, but it leaned when I didn't join them well," and I think I did that in Upper Key Stage 2 in primary, so maybe year five or six.

And then Jun says, "I made clay tile before using the slab technique." So can you remember, have you done any of these techniques? Looking at the pinch method again, how we do this is, first of all, we roll a piece of clay into an even ball, just like this image.

Then we use our thumb to make an opening.

And we do this by pressing into ball center of the ball, but you don't wanna press all the way through, but just into the center of the ball.

And then slowly and surely, you rotate the ball and the wall and you pinch the sides.

So the clay is made thinner and it's raising up higher while you rotate the ball.

So rolling a piece of clay, make an opening with your thumb, and then using a pinching technique around the edge of the wall.

In the coil method, you first of all want to shape a piece of clay into a sausage or a cylindrical shape, so a long thin shape.

And then you wanna roll forwards and backwards with both hands and the fingers spread wide.

So a little bit like if you've ever rolled pastry before or used a rolling pin before in cooking.

So you want to have an even surface.

And then to keep it round, twist the coil gently.

So don't twist it too much that it becomes broken, but twist it gently as you roll and then this keeps an even thickness.

And normally, we look for a diameter of about a finger or a penny.

And then lastly, the slab method, and this is the method that Jun used to create a tile.

So here, we roll out a piece of clay.

And can you see those two pieces of wood either side that the rolling pin is leaning on? Well, these are dowels, so they're pieces of wood and they achieve a consistent thickness.

So it stops the rolling pin from pressing too deeply or hard on one area and creating a variable thickness.

And then you can mark your desired shape on the slab and cut it out.

Then what you need to do is score and slip.

So to join pieces of clay, you score the surface.

And this means taking a knife or a toothbrush and scratching the surface of the clay, both sides of the clay that you want to join together.

And then the glue within this is called slip.

And slip is basically a liquid clay material.

So you add a bit of water to the clay and it creates this liquid clay material and that acts as a glue.

And this joining method helps the clay bond strongly as it dries and fires.

A quick check for understanding.

Which statement is true about clay construction methods? Is it A, pinch, coil, and slab can only be used separately? B, pinch, coil, and slab can be combined in one piece? C, pinch is only for beginners, not artists? Or D, slab is the weakest method? Which one is true? Well done.

They can be used in one piece.

They don't need to be used separately.

And a pinch pot or pinch method is certainly not only for beginners.

And remember that slab is actually a very strong technique.

So moving on to our first task, and I am excited about this task because I want you to go and explore and experiment with all the different clay construction methods.

So I'd like you to create sample forms, so just with a small piece of clay, use the different construction methods.

So remembering that these construction methods are pinch, coil, and slab.

And remember, you can go back and rewatch parts of the video if that helps you remember how to do them.

I'd then like you to photograph your samples, label them and annotate them.

So annotate them on what worked, what you liked, what was difficult, and actually how you then solved it.

Pause the video.

Well done.

I wish I could see all of your samples.

It'd be great, but let's see what our Oak pupils saw.

So this is an example of a pinch, so rotating around my thumb helped keep the sides even.

So this pupil found that really helpful.

This pupil has annotated their coil and said rolling with open fingers helped keep the coils even.

And then this pupil has taken a photo of their slab and annotated saying using guide sticks while rolling helped control the thickness of the slab.

I wonder what you found quite difficult and how you overcame that.

Do you have a preferred method? Right, let's move on to our second section, exploring figurative form through clay.

Clay figures are often made by combining pinch, coil, and slab techniques.

Pinch can shape small rounded parts like the heads or the torsos, or even smaller details, such as the nose.

Coils can build tall and curved or layered forms like limbs or flowing shapes.

And slabs can provide a solid base or flat structural part like feet, stands, or clothing elements, or a plinth, a part of a plinth.

Artists often mix these methods depending on the shape they want and the needs of that shape and the needs of the structure.

Quick check for understanding.

Why might an artist combine different clay methods in a figure? Is it to copy another artist's work, to finish the work faster because different methods suit different shapes, or because clay can't be used in one method alone? Well done, yes, it's C because different methods suit different shapes.

And as we saw in that image before, lots of different methods have been included.

Some artists create figures to explore stories, feelings, and ideas.

These figures can be realistic or they can be abstract.

Let's have a look at some.

So Akio Takamori made painted figures about identity, memory, and relationships.

Claire Curneen makes fragile, elongated figures about myth, faith, and human experience.

Freya Bramble-Carter makes vessels inspired by nature and spirituality.

In her "I Spy" collection, she hides figures within textured surfaces to bring her work to life.

Why might an artist choose to make an abstract figure instead of a realistic one? Hmm.

Why might an artist choose to do this? Well, this people were saying abstract figures can help show feelings or moods instead of just purely copying real life.

And this pupil says it gives the artist more freedom to play with shape, space, and texture.

Do you agree? Can you think of anything else? True or false? Abstraction gives artists freedom.

Let's see what you said.

Yes, indeed it is true, but why? Well done if you said something similar to this.

Brilliant.

So instead of focusing only on realism, they can use shape, space, and texture to explore emotions, imagination, and new ideas.

Artists can often focus on a theme.

So this is an image of an abstract figure.

Instead of realism, abstract figures might explore identity.

So who are we? What is our culture? What are our memories? Imagination.

So our dreams or surreal ideas.

Emotions such as joy, fear, calm.

What emotion does this abstract figure evoke in you? Mo Jupp was a British sculptor who made simplified clay figures using really basic construction methods like pinch and slab.

His figures look playful and bold, showing how clay can be used in a free and imaginative way.

Jupp often left surfaces unrefined which emphasized the form and character of his figures.

And his work shows that even simple construction methods, those that we've been using today and will continue to use, can explore themes of play and imagination while creating expressive sculpture.

So just because they're simple construction methods doesn't mean that they can't create something really complex.

What story, idea, or feeling could your clay figure show? So if you're gonna create a clay figure, what story, ideal, or feeling would you want it to show? I'd like you to think about identity.

So who are you? Where do you come from? What are your memories? What are your cultural beliefs? Your imagination? What do you like to play? What are your emotions? What can it represent about? Check for understanding.

Why might an artist use a theme in their clay figure? Is it to make their work look more realistic and lifelike? Is it to explore ideas like identity, imagination, or emotions? Is it to make building a clay structure easier? Or is it to copy another artist's sculptural style? I hope you've all got this.

Well done, yes, it's to explore ideas, and those ideas might be about identity, imagination, or emotions.

So building a simplified figure inspired by Mo Jupp might look like this.

Firstly, you want to roll a small square or oval slab for the base.

So that's gonna be your base of your sculpture.

Then you might want to roll a larger slab.

And once you've rolled that out, you might want to roll that around a rolling pin.

And as you can see in this image, the artist has scored both sides and then is gonna put slip on it to stick it together so it creates a cylinder.

Then you can twist that cylinder very carefully off the rolling pin.

Then whilst it's not dry, you can press thumbs into the top of the form and fold gently to create two leg shapes.

Can you see how that's been done? So that cylinder's been taken and thumbs have been pressed down the middle to create two leg shapes.

Once you've done that, you can score the bottom of the legs and score the slab, and again, add slip and stick them on together.

Then you might want to pinch half the shape inwards to create the torso.

So you're using the pinch method.

Then you might like to shape the torso into a simple point like here, Or actually you might want to have shoulders.

And now start adjusting the shoulders in the back and the angles to keep this figurative form simple and bold.

And that takes us onto our second task.

And now you are gonna go and build an abstract figure using at least two clay construction methods.

So remember we had at least two in that example I've just shown you.

So you should consider the theme that you aim to communicate through your figure.

I want you to start experimenting and see what forms or shapes emerge.

Focus on working out and thinking about how the methods connect and support each other and can work in harmony with each other.

Then I'd like you to reflect on your abstract clay figure.

I'd like you to think about how you chose your theme identity, imagination, or emotions, the influence of the shapes, the textures, or outcome of your figure.

Did your choice of construction methods successfully create your sculpture? And how could you refine your clay figure to improve the communication of your chosen theme? Pause the video and off you go.

Well done, I imagine you all did brilliantly and I hope you've really taken the time to experiment and try out new methods.

So let's see what Izzy did.

So Izzy said she used a combination of slab and pinch to create my simplified figurative form.

And then reflecting on her abstract clay figure, she said, "I like the idea of playing with the form of the figure like Mo Jupp.

I moved the legs and back to different angles to accentuate parts and make the figure look like it was moving.

I left the torso very simplified, disappearing into a point.

I could improve my work by adding texture to communicate the emotion of feeling lost or invisible.

Perhaps I could create a rough or uncomfortable feeling." I wonder what your constructions look like, your sculptures look like, and I wonder how you've reflected on it.

Well, thank you so much for joining me today for this lesson "3D Design: Clay Construction Techniques." We've learned that clay can be formed using three main hand-building methods, and they are pinch, coil, and slab.

We've learned that these construction methods allow artists to create both functional objects, such as bowls, pots, and plates, but also expressive sculptures.

We've learned that artists often combine methods to suit different shapes and to explore themes, such as identity, imagination, and emotions.

And we've learned that practicing each method helps build skill and confidence when experimenting with figurative and abstract forms. Thank you again, and I hope to see you very soon for another lesson.