Pottery Making

Pottery is the ceramic ware made by potters. The term pottery also describes a varied range of ceramic products like earthenware, porcelain and stoneware. The place where potteries are made is called as potteries.

The complete process of pottery making is done by forming a mass of clay into different objects of some required shapes. The objects are gained by heating them on high temperatures in a kiln. Though a potter’s basic tools are his hands but some other additional tools are also used which includes turntable, potter’s wheel, rolling tools (like, roulettes, slab rollers, rolling pins), shaping tools (like paddles, anvils, ribs), and finishing tools (like rasps, burnishing stones, rasps and chamois). Some steps included in pottery making are discussed as follows:


Silver Pottery:
Handwork or hand building: This method is the most direct forming method. Here the wares are constructed by hand from coils of clay, from flat slabs of clay, from solid balls of clay or some have combination of these.

The Potter’s Wheel:
The other important method is the Potter’s wheel. In this process a lump of clay is placed at the center point of a turntable; this is called as wheel head. It is rotated with the help of a stick or by foot. The potter’s wheel is used for mass production but also it is used for making individual pieces too.
 
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Jiggering and Jolleying: The process of jiggering and jolleying is done on the potter’s wheel. Jiggering is done for bringing a shaped tool with the plastic clay of a piece. The piece which is set on a rotating plaster moulds on the wheel. Jolleying is used with a different purpose and it is used in pottery production since last 18th century.

Roller Head Machine: This machine is used for shaping the wares on a rotating mould similarly like in jiggering and jolleying. This process is done with a rotary shaping tool which is a shallow cone shaped tool.

These are the pottery making tools used while making the pottery. There are certain other steps employed in pottery making like banding, burnishing and others.

 
 
 
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