Coiling -

Introduction to Coiling Coiled pots are constructed by gradually stacking and joining coils of one on top of the other. The coils can be left visible or can be smoothed away depending on your desired aesthetic end result. It is important that the coils join well during construction to avoid cracking or separation during the drying and firing process.

Images sourced from online websites:

https://img0.etsystatic.com/007/0/6861290/ il_fullxfull.365126604_tfhg.jpg

https://www.etsy.com/listing/106719297/ ivory-colored-coil-?ref=related-0

Information on coiling:

http://www.lakesidepottery.com/Pages/ -tips/Making-a-clay-coiled-pot- Lakeside-Pottery-Tutorial.htm

suew/ceramicart_eveclass/coilvase/notes15 Coiled Vase - Rough Shape

VASE TOP

VASE NECK

PATTERNED AREA

SMOOTH AREA

VASE BASE

OVAL BASE

suew/ceramicart_eveclass/coilvase/notes15 Making clay

Step 1 Find a plastic tub that can be sealed. I have used a soup pot! This is so that you can close it up and not worry that it will dry out.

Step 2 Use fresh clay out of the bag and tear off wee bits and place them into your container.

Step 3 Once you have enough clay, add normal tap water. Just fill to the height of your clay. It doesn’t need to be perfect, you can add more clay later if needed.

Step 4 Begin to squeeze the clay through your fingers and repeat until the clay and water reaches the consistency of single cream.

suew/ceramicart_eveclass/coilvase/notes15 How to build coils

Step 1 Use the cheesewire to cut 2-3 inches deep into a bag of clay. Then quarter the clay using a potters knife.

Step 2 Take your quarter chunk of clay and begin to shape it into a thick sausage. Do this by gently squeezing the clay in your palms.

Step 3 Squeeze the clay so that it’s a couple of inches thick.

Step 4 Place the clay onto the table and begin to roll from the centre outwards, applying gentle pressure as you move along.

suew/ceramicart_eveclass/coilvase/notes15 Step 5 If your clay is not rolling out equally try and twist opposite ends (so it looks like a sweetie shoe lace or drill-bit!) and roll again.

Step 6 Keep rolling until the width of the clay is about an inch thick.

Step 7 It’s best to make quite a few before you begin to work on your pot. This is so you don’t have to keep stopping during the construction of your pot.

Clay Extruders There is a clay extruder that can do the job too, but I find making the coils more organic and satisfying! The extruders can be tedious to clean - especially if someone previous has used red clay!

suew/ceramicart_eveclass/coilvase/notes15 Coil Vase - Method (Plastic) Part 1

Step 1 To make the OVAL BASE, cut off a large chunk of clay and roll out using a rolling pin. Roll this out to the thickness of about an inch.

Step 2 Roughly draw out your oval shape using either with a pencil, then cut into using a potters knife. Remove the excess clay on the outside. The excess clay can be put back into your clay slip!

Step 3 I prefer to use a potters wheel to build my pots on - this is because you can rotate it more easily when you begin to construct. Place a sheet of newpaper underneath your clay, this is so it can be moved off with ease later on.

Step 4 Now score lines at an angle using the potters knife, being careful not score too deeply into the clay.

suew/ceramicart_eveclass/coilvase/notes15 Step 5 Now score the clay again but now going the opposite way so the scores criss cross over each other.

Step 6 Also, repeat this scoring onto one of your clay coils.

Step 7 Apply your clay slip onto the criss cross scores areas on your OVAL BASE. Clay slip only needs to be applied to one side.

Step 8 Place your coil onto the base, with the criss cross scores facing the base. When the coil overlaps, cut straight into using a potters knife. Remove excess pieces of clay and this should mean it sits flush as one layer/level.

suew/ceramicart_eveclass/coilvase/notes15 Step 9 Score each of the edges of your coil and apply clay slip.

Step 10 Push the two edges together so that they join.

Step 11 Smooth off the join using your finger, so it looks like it was one continuous coil!

Step 12 Apply a bit of pressure on the top to make sure that the two pieces of clay are joining.

suew/ceramicart_eveclass/coilvase/notes15 Step 13 Use your finger to push part of the coil into the base on the inside of your vase.

Step 14 Repeat this all around the inside.

Step 15 Now use your finger to smoothen the clay inside. This method has now securely joined the two pieces of clay together.

Step 16 Score into the clay the same as before and apply clay slip.

suew/ceramicart_eveclass/coilvase/notes15 Step 17 Place a coil on top and remember to score your edges when you are joining ends together. Apply clay slip.

Step 18 Remember to criss cross your clay coils. Smooth the inside the same as before and repeat the coiling process until you reach a desired height.

Step 19 As you build higher, it can be difficult to smooth the inside. Get a small amount of clay from the bag and roll it into a mini sausage/ coil. Place this into the gaps and apply pressure, then smoothen it out using your finger. This method is great for patching up areas that are thin and also adds strength.

Step 20 When you have reached the desired height, then that is as far as we’ll go with height of it! We want the bottom of the vase to harden (mid-leatherhard), so we can continue to build higher next time.

suew/ceramicart_eveclass/coilvase/notes15 Coil Swirls

Step 21 So now we are going to make our 4x Coil Swirls. These will be placed onto our vase in the following week when the bottom is mid-leatherhard. They will half go into the bottom of the pot. We will make 4 just now, so that by next week, it is mid leatherhard and will be stronger to work on top with the rest of the swirl coil pattern.

suew/ceramicart_eveclass/coilvase/notes15 Step 22 Roll out your coils but this time, make them thinner than before - about a cm.

Step 23 Start turning your coil and apply gentle pressure.

Step 24 Once you have reached the desired size, just cut off the end at an angle and smooth off using your finger.

Step 25 Repeat this process until you have 4 roughly similar swirls. Place them onto a wooden board and wrap well with cling film and plastic bags. By next week, the clay should be harder and easier to handle for the next stage!

suew/ceramicart_eveclass/coilvase/notes15 Coil Vase - Method (Mid-leatherhard) Part 2

Step 26 Make some new coils (see last week’s handout on how to do this). Prepare a minimum of 4 new coils and set aside.

Step 27 Get fresh clay from the bag and make very small mini coils (or I call them sausages!).

Step 28 Push hard the soft clay sausages into the gaps between the coils on the outer of your vase. Pushing hard will stop the air being trapped inside the two layers of clay.

Step 29 Then smoothen the clay using your finger. Repeat this process until all of the gaps are filled and smoothed off.

suew/ceramicart_eveclass/coilvase/notes15 Step 30 Your vase should be leather hard enough to turn upside down and still hold it’s shape. It is easier to finish off the sausages on the bottom when it is upside down.

Step 31 Once your vase has been smoothened all over, use a metal kidney and begin gently scraping away the clay on the outside. Take your time!

Step 32 You can also use the metal kidney to level out the edges on the base and then smoothen over with your finger.

Step 33 It took me 20 minutes to achieve this! So please take your time to do this. Don’t be too hard with the kidney or you’ll dig a hole into the clay or remove too much! Just repeat over the same area again and again.

suew/ceramicart_eveclass/coilvase/notes15 Step 34 Take one of your swirls that you have made last week. This should be leatherhard now. Place it onto the central front part of your vase. Take the needle tool and gently score into the clay around the swirl.

Step 35 This will give you a rough idea of where to cut the clay.

Step 36 Use a potters knife to cut inside the score. Remove the excess piece of clay.

Step 37 Now carefully cut the clay until it reaches the score. Place your swirl back in to see if you need to shave more off.

suew/ceramicart_eveclass/coilvase/notes15 Step 38 Once you have reached the desired size, smooth off the edges using your fingers.

Step 39 Only score 2/3 onto the surface of the area where the swirl will sit in.

Step 40 Score your swirl too and apply your clay slip to both scored surfaces.

Step 41 Place your swirl in and apply pressure to make sure it joins - push both pieces of clay together.

suew/ceramicart_eveclass/coilvase/notes15 Step 42 On the inside of the pot, make a wee sausage and push into the join between the swirl and the body of your vase.

Step 43 Smooth this area off using your fingers and thumb.

Step 44 Repeat this process for the rest of your three swirls. (I have only done two swirls in the photo as I’m saving the other two for the demo in class!).

Step 45 Make two small nuggets of clay.

suew/ceramicart_eveclass/coilvase/notes15 Step 46 Score the top surface area of your vase and swirls. Apply clay slip.

Step 47 Score onto your wee nuggets and apply slip. Then push hard into the corners of your vase and swirls.

Step 48 It should look like this from the front!

Step 49 Push your nuggets into the vase body on the inside and smoothen off.

suew/ceramicart_eveclass/coilvase/notes15 Step 50 Repeat this process for all four swirls.

Step 51 Score all the surfaces on your nuggets and apply slip all over the scores.

Step 52 Take one of your coils you prepared earlier and score into it and apply slip.

Step 53 Place your coil over the scored area, following it over the small nuggets and swirls.

suew/ceramicart_eveclass/coilvase/notes15 Step 54 Apply medium pressure to the coil to make sure it sticks to the nuggets and swirls.

Step 55 Make small sausages and place into the gaps inbetween the coil and the vase. Smooth off using your fingers.

Step 56 Repeat this for all the swirls. The sausages help to reinforce the structure. If you prefer that it is completely smooth on the inside, you may wish to add soft clay to completely cover the swirls on the inside. But only you will know it’s smooth as you won’t be able to see it when it’s finished!

Step 57 So your vase should look similar to this in the picture (but with four swirls and not my two!).

suew/ceramicart_eveclass/coilvase/notes15 Step 58 Make more swirls but this time, score and apply slip before you begin to make the swirl. This is because it’s going to get harder and harder to reinforce from the inside with sausages as we are going to start close up the shape of the vase so it becomes narrower.

Step 59 All joins will now have scores and slip, so remember to do them!

Step 60 At this stage, you are now able to go free- hand! Start to make your own pattern using the swirls and coils.

Step 61 Add swirls, nuggets and patterns wherever you want!

suew/ceramicart_eveclass/coilvase/notes15 Step 62 Remember to make sausages on the inside to strengthen your vase. If the clay feels too plastic and you think it’s going to cave in, then stop building. This is as far as we can go with constructing it this week.

Step 63 For the remaining neck you will require the vase to be leatherhard so it can support the tricky neck part. I would only build a few inches higher than the vase in this picture and wait until next time to continue!

Step 64 So this is the final area that you will need to build next time. It is crucial that your vase is leatherhard at this point as it needs to support all the weight of the neck. As the vase shape is going slightly in, it’s less structurally sound. So please do not try this if the vase is still too plastic!

Sue’s Top Tip! As this part is particularly tricky, to help build on the neck area, get a kitchen towel tube. Wrap newspaper around it and place this inside your vase. This will help stop your clay coils from falling in and collapsing! It can be removed once you have finished and everything is leatherhard.

suew/ceramicart_eveclass/coilvase/notes15 Coil Vase - Method (Neck) Part 3

Step 65 Once you have reached the desired height - the shape of your vase should be going towards the centre. Remember to use wee sausages to strengthen the inside and to close up any remaining holes/gaps.

Step 66 It’s kitchen roll time! I have wrapped a sheet of paper around the kitchen roll and stuck it down with masking tape. It was actually quite hard to remove later on, so wrap some cling film around this too!

Step 67 Place your kitchen roll into your vase and check the size of your kitchen roll with the height of the vase. I needed to stick together two kitchen rolls for mine! Use masking tape to stick together two tubes. And remember to wrap with cling film!

Step 68 Now you can build higher up and start to close in the neck. Once you’ve reached a height that you’re happy with, stop! Now leave to dry (with the tube still inside) so that it’s leather hard to work with the following week.

suew/ceramicart_eveclass/coilvase/notes15 Coil Vase - Method (Finishing off the neck and bottom) Part 4

Step 69 Now that a week has passed, your neck should have become leatherhard. Carefully remove the kitchen tube away from your vase. Hopefully your vase neck is still strong and solid! Apply more sausages on the inside to reinforce the neck and smoothen using your fingers.

Step 70 You will need a jumper or a pillow for this! And it will get messy, so preferably one that you’re not too fond of! Your vase should be leatherhard enough for it to hold it’s shape... as we’re going to sit it on it’s side!

Step 71 These are called “ribbon” tools. They come in different sizes and shapes! We are going to use the flat end shape as I feel that this one is easier to control.

Step 72 You can mark the bottom using a potters knife or a pencil - draw an oval shape or a line that’s about an inch away from the edge. I actually did mine by eye but I would recommend to draw an outline as it helps keep you right!

suew/ceramicart_eveclass/coilvase/notes15 Step 73 Hold your vase securely with your hand and then use the ribbon tool to apply gentle to firm pressure to scrape away the clay. Do not do this too hard as you will take away big chunks and may end up making a hole! It’s better keep scraping bit by bit and take your time! You want a depth of about 3mm - be careful not to go too deep!

Step 74 Once you have finished scraping away your clay, you can now stamp your name on it!

FINISHED! Here are the two vases/pots that I had created using the coiling method. I hope you enjoyed this process of handbuilding as much as I did! Well done on completing your first coiled vase! It will take a while to completely dry out, so it’s best to leave it on the shelf with a bag loosely sitting on it for 2-3 weeks. You don’t want to let it dry out too quickly as this can cause the clay to crack.

suew/ceramicart_eveclass/coilvase/notes15