Here are some hints and tips about hand-building clay animals
Freestyle slab method ( good for animals that don't have legs or are stylised so they dont have separate legs. - e.g. chicken fish, bird)
In this method you roll out two slabs about one centimetre thick each. I use terracotta or white earthenware handbuilding clay.
On one slab draw the shape of your animal.
Cut it out using a needle tool or skewer. ( with young children a knitting needle can be used for this, or you can cut it for them)
Use the second slab to make the opposite shape. Lay the first slab (cut to shape) over it and trace it with a skewer. Then cut it out.
you could use precut templates made from cardboard or plastic.
So you have two slabs that represent either side of your animal
Use slip and scoring around the edges of both shapes.
One shape is laid flat, good side down, slip and scoring added around the edges.
Place a small scrunched piece of newspaper in the centre.
Place second slab over top of it and beginjoin them together.
Join them a little all around except for the bottom which must be open. then stand the piece up.
Join all edges nicely and then hold the work carefully in your hands upside down to reinforce the base with a coil.
to
Two pinch Pots
- practice making pinch pots for the first lesson.
- make two pinch pots and jointhem with scoring and slip. Add a coil of soft clay around the outside and blend onto both sides to reinforce the join.
When adding legs etc, make sure that any addition is reinforced with a coil of soft clay around the join, well blended into each part. This will thoroughly join the two parts.
Coiling
Plan carefully for coil built animals.
sketches need to be made of what the animal will look like from all sides and perhaps a floor plan, which can then be used as a template.
draw and cut out template of the bottom of the animal.
Coils should always be a centimetre in diameter. They do not need to be joined with slip and scoring if the clay is soft and is blended to the coil above and below it as you build.
Coils should be added in a spiral, not a doughnut. The coil is blended in as it is added to the pot. Not even sat on top of the pot in a circle and then joined on. this causes wobbles in the pot building.
The artwork needs to be continually compared with the drawing to make sure it is being built to the correct shape.
Freestyle slab method ( good for animals that don't have legs or are stylised so they dont have separate legs. - e.g. chicken fish, bird)
 |
| freestyle method, fish with liquid underglaze decoration |
In this method you roll out two slabs about one centimetre thick each. I use terracotta or white earthenware handbuilding clay.
On one slab draw the shape of your animal.
Cut it out using a needle tool or skewer. ( with young children a knitting needle can be used for this, or you can cut it for them)
Use the second slab to make the opposite shape. Lay the first slab (cut to shape) over it and trace it with a skewer. Then cut it out.
you could use precut templates made from cardboard or plastic.
So you have two slabs that represent either side of your animal
Use slip and scoring around the edges of both shapes.
One shape is laid flat, good side down, slip and scoring added around the edges.
Place a small scrunched piece of newspaper in the centre.
Place second slab over top of it and beginjoin them together.
Join them a little all around except for the bottom which must be open. then stand the piece up.
Join all edges nicely and then hold the work carefully in your hands upside down to reinforce the base with a coil.
to
 |
| terracotta fish with red and orange glaze |
Two pinch Pots
- practice making pinch pots for the first lesson.
- make two pinch pots and jointhem with scoring and slip. Add a coil of soft clay around the outside and blend onto both sides to reinforce the join.
When adding legs etc, make sure that any addition is reinforced with a coil of soft clay around the join, well blended into each part. This will thoroughly join the two parts.
Coiling
Plan carefully for coil built animals.
sketches need to be made of what the animal will look like from all sides and perhaps a floor plan, which can then be used as a template.
draw and cut out template of the bottom of the animal.
Coils should always be a centimetre in diameter. They do not need to be joined with slip and scoring if the clay is soft and is blended to the coil above and below it as you build.
Coils should be added in a spiral, not a doughnut. The coil is blended in as it is added to the pot. Not even sat on top of the pot in a circle and then joined on. this causes wobbles in the pot building.
The artwork needs to be continually compared with the drawing to make sure it is being built to the correct shape.
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