Ceramics
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Ryan Caldwell
Mr. Roberts
Ceramics
28 November 2007
Term Paper
In order to make a bowl out of clay you first have to make the clay. You need to get a bowl and clean it out thoroughly to make sure any unwanted particles are not present. After the bowl is cleaned you need to put fat clay in the bowl. Fat clay is any clay that is too wet to be used. Now that you have the fat clay in the bowl you will need to add powder, which will make it soft and useable. It depends on how much fat clay you have, that determines how much powder you will need. The more fat clay you have the more powder you will need.
Now that the clay is in a soft form you can start to make and cut the pieces. When it is in this form it is called the plastic stage. To make a bowl you have to decide what the dimensions of the bowl will be. When you have decided on the dimensions you want, you will need to get two dwol rods and a rolling pin. The dwol rods are used to get the uniformed thickness of the clay. You put the clay down on a desk and put the dwol rods on both sides of the clay and then use the rolling pin to roll the clay out flat.
Now that the clay is flattened out you will need to use a fettling knife to carve your base of the bowl. A fettling knife is just a knife to cut clay with. Now that the clay is cut into a shape of a circle you will use a wire tool to cut the piece so it will separate from the excess clay. A wire tool is a strand of wire which is thin so it will cut through clay real easy.
After you have your circular piece of clay you will need to make the coils which will give the bowl height. Coils are just clay rolled into long strands that can be stacked up on each other. Once you have rolled the clay out into a long enough strand, you will place it on the base. When placing the coil on the base, you will curl it along the inside edge. You will apply pressure after aligning it to where it is needed. By adding some pressure, it will keep it from coming off the base.
Now that there is one coil on the base, you can get a little bit of clay and place it on any space that might need reinforcement. If you are not sure where the coil and the base need it, you can always put some where the coil and base meet. By doing that you can be sure the coil will not come off.
Now that you know the coil and base are sturdy and reinforced you can use a blow dryer to make the clay a little harder. By making the clay a little harder it will make it easier to put a coil on top