Clay Processes
Shaping
The easiest way to shape clay is between your hands – modelling it, pinching it or hand-building it. Hand-building involves building shapes by coiling thick ‘sausages’ of clay in a spiral on top of each other then smoothing the surface, or rolling it out into slabs which you stick together.
The sculptor of the Figure of Descartes worked out his ideas in clay using different tools before making huge bronze or marble figures.
The Chinese Li and the Pietà are made from slabs of clay joined together. The edges to be joined have to be scored (scratched to roughen them) then wetted with water or slip (diluted clay) so that the clay sticks to itself.
Hollow shapes like bowls are often made using a potter’s wheel. By throwing clay pieces onto the turning wheel the potter can produce a very regular and controlled shape.
The 16th century basin by Palissy is made by casting. If you press something into a piece of clay and take it away, you get the exact shape, but hollow: if you do the same in plaster, it sets hard and you have what is called a mould. Then you can press clay into the mould and you get the original shape again exactly.