| Lots of great school pottery artist projects can | | | | Detailed features such as eyeballs can be added |
| be developed from the basic pinch pot form. | | | | at the end with nail hole filler. It is also possible to |
| Have the students begin by compressing clay into | | | | create entire animal bodies out of two pinch pots |
| a ball shape with their hands. Then press and push | | | | - a large one for the body and a smaller one for |
| down into the clay with a thumb to create a well | | | | the head - joining them together by scoring and |
| in the center of the clay ball. The well is deepened | | | | gluing with slip. Legs can be made from clay coils |
| by pressing gently, and once the correct depth | | | | wrapped around wire. Remember to explain to |
| has been reached, the walls of the pinch pot are | | | | the students that an air vent should be cut into |
| drawn out and thinned between the thumb and | | | | each sculpture so that the piece doesn't explode |
| index finger. The clay ball is rotated and the clay is | | | | in the kiln. |
| worked upward to form the wall and to size the | | | | Pinch pots can also be used as a base for creating |
| pinch pot. | | | | fantasy animals such as gargoyles and dragons, |
| Once the basic pinch pot has been formed, it can | | | | which are popular with monster-loving students of |
| be turned into a variety of shapes and figures. | | | | middle school age. Show the students photos of |
| The students can make animal heads by using | | | | gargoyles from medieval church facades to give |
| photos of wild animals or pets as models. Then | | | | them the idea. Then, starting with balls of clay |
| they can mold the pinch pot into the correct | | | | about the size of tennis balls, the students pinch |
| shape, smoothing as they work and drawing out | | | | open a mouth with their thumbs and use their |
| features such as snout and jowls. Eyelids can be | | | | fingers and basic clay tools to create ears, eyes, |
| formed from coils of clay glued to the pinch pot | | | | fangs, and horns by pinching, pulling, and poking. |
| with slip, and ears cut from thin clay slabs and | | | | This is easier than adding pieces to the clay by |
| attached with scoring and slip. The faces of | | | | scoring and gluing with slip, since the features |
| animals such as cats, dogs, and rabbits which | | | | don't break off as easily. Once the heads are |
| have anchor-shaped mouths - having a little line | | | | shaped the gargoyles' skin is textured, and the |
| descending from the nose and then curving out | | | | clay is dried to leather-hard and the pieces are |
| into the mouth - can be shaped from a cross of | | | | bisque-fired. Black and white pottery glazes can |
| four clay balls smoothed into the face of the | | | | be sponged on the finished gargoyles to create a |
| animal. Fur texturing can be obtained by using a | | | | mottled effect resembling stone. |
| comb or brush over the surface before it dries. | | | | |