([Fig. 324]). When you have made a disk about two and one-half inches in diameter, lift the roll and build up the sides, coiling slowly round and round, pinching it slightly as you go, with the last row always resting on the one just beneath ([Fig. 325]).
Unless you have made a very long roll, which is not easy to handle at first, you will soon have to stop coiling for lack of material. Do not use all of the first roll, but allow the end to rest on the table, where it can be joined to the new roll you are to make. Pinch the end of the new roll to that of the old and round the joint between your hands.
Fig. [325].—Lift the roll and build up the sides.
Continue coiling until you have made a cup-shaped vessel three inches high, then break off the roll and flatten the end to meet the surface of the brim. Moisten your fingers on the sponge, and smooth the inside of the cup, holding the walls in place with your left hand curved around the outside ([Fig. 326]). Do not press too hard with either hand, but slide your fingers gently round and round over the inner surface. When the coils on the inside have become well flattened mix a little clay and water into a paste, and spread it on, filling any cracks that may still be left between the coils, constantly smoothing all the time.
Fig. [326].—Smooth the inside of the cup.
You will find that this process has, at first, the effect of broadening the base and lowering the sides of the cup, and until you have quite mastered the method you must allow for the broadening and flattening of your work. Your cup, with a base of two and one-half inches and sides three inches in height, will now probably be a saucer measuring about four inches across the bottom, and not more than one inch and a half in height. It matters little, though, at this stage what shapes you turn out. Do your best with each piece, and if the work flattens turn it into a pretty dish by pinching the edge to form a little lip, and adding a handle like [Fig. 327].
Fig. [327].—Turn it into a pretty dish.