"Turn, turn, my wheel! Turn round and round
Without a pause, without a sound;
So spins the flying world away!
This clay, well mixed with marl and sand,
Follows the motion of my hand;
For some must follow, and some command,
Though all are made of clay!"
Potter's Wheel Unnecessary.—The potter's wheel was used in comparatively early times and has been intimately associated with the art ever since. But it requires much physical strength and considerable skill to use it effectively; and its use has been by no means universal. We find the Indians of our own time and people of other races, expert in building pottery by hand, using the method of coiling. It seems best, therefore, to advise beginners to adopt the simpler method and to forego the use of the potter's wheel. The comparative inexpensiveness of the hand method of building is another point in its favour. The tools required are few and simple. Inexpensive and easy methods are favourable to the experimental stage; and it is well for the amateur to have every encouragement to experiment freely both with methods for building and with designs for his ware, keeping in mind always that the beautiful is generally the simple and strong, not the fantastic and complicated.
The Method of Coiling.—It will be understood, therefore, that in general the process to be followed consists in building up the bowl or jar or whatever the design may be by using coils of clay of the right consistency, welding and shaping them together, and scraping them down, if necessary, until they are ready to receive the first firing. After this they may receive a coating of glaze and be fired again. At first the beginner will find his chief interest simply in experimenting with the building up process.
MATERIALS AND TOOLS
The materials and tools needed are as follows: Clay; oil-cloth, 18 inches square; cotton cloth or flannelette, 18 inches square; a few simple modelling tools; a soft pencil; drawing paper; card-board, 6 ply; a plaster of paris "bat," or a piece of slate.
Clays.—It will be necessary to add a word of explanation in order that these materials and tools may be well selected. There is a great variety in clays, ranging from a very coarse red clay used for flower pots to the finest white clay used for porcelain. The latter is called kaolin and is very pure. A good modelling clay may be obtained from dealers in school supplies or from potteries. In some localities, especially in the neighbourhood of brick-yards or other clay industries, a satisfactory clay may be easily found. But, however obtained, some experimenting will be necessary to test its suitability. The modelling clay is probably the least liable to yield disappointing results.
The cotton cloth or flannelette is to be moistened and used to wrap up the clay in order to keep it from drying too rapidly during the intervals when it is set aside. This will not be necessary during the early part of the process, for then it is desirable for the clay to stiffen as rapidly as possible by natural means.
Simple tools used in pottery
Of the modelling tools needed some can be whittled from hard wood. They are not expensive, however, and the beginner will perhaps find it well to obtain most of them from a dealer in artists' materials. The accompanying illustration shows some of these, among them a very useful tool (F) with brass wire loops which are in turn wound with finer wire. F and C are especially useful for scraping clay too soft to be easily managed with smooth edges. The thumb-like tool A is perhaps the most generally useful of those shown here.