The chief pitfall to avoid in this process is a hard wooden look. The ductile plastic qualities of the clay should be remembered and such additions as feet or handles should emphasize this important point.
Finally, the careful sympathetic craftsman, with infinite patience, by utilizing all three methods, can build vessels of almost any shape,—square, round, elliptical, banded, strapped, bossed, fluted, and embellished with handles, spouts, and feet. Ancient and mediæval pottery is rich in such forms.
CHAPTER IV
Moulding, Casting, and Pressing
“Our soundes is good, Our shapes is neat,
Its Davis cast us so compleat.”
—From an old bell at Stoke Rivers.
The casting process, employed so extensively in commercial work, is in its essence mechanical and therefore can never have the spontaneity or character of thrown work. To-day when the thrower and turner with hand and eye trained for good shapes is rare indeed, it is often the only method by which the student can obtain large shapes of high finish for painting or glazing in transparent colours.