As you are working without a wheel the symmetry of your pottery must depend entirely upon your eye and hand, therefore keep turning the block upon which it stands that no irregularity may be overlooked.
When you add ornaments or handles see that the roll of clay from which you make them adheres closely to the vessel. Add soft clay to the joints and smooth until the whole seems to be of one piece.
Fig. [328].—The outside corrugated by the coil.
In your first attempts leave the outside of the pottery corrugated by the coils ([Fig. 328]); later work you may smooth, making a surface equal to that turned on a wheel. Do not try to finish a piece in one day; it is much better to allow it to harden a little and become set, then make it as smooth as you can with your tools, levelling the edges and taking away extra thicknesses. If this cannot be done at one time, set the work away once more covered with a damp cloth and it will keep in good working condition for any length of time, but remember, the cloth must be kept damp, otherwise the clay will harden.
When you have perfected your piece of pottery to your satisfaction put it away to dry, not in the sun. Several days later, after it has become quite hard, go over the surface again with knife and emery-paper, scraping and rubbing down until it is entirely smooth and free from flaws. The work will then be ready to take to the potter for firing.
The color of clay changes in firing, and your little piece of pottery will probably come back to you almost the color of old ivory. One cannot be very positive about the color, however, for clays vary, and perhaps yours may be of a kind that will fire another color. The potter will glaze your work for you if you wish, or leave it in the bisque. Nothing has been said about what
Shapes to Make the Pottery,
for that will depend much upon your own taste and ability. Rather low, flat, dish shapes are most easily handled and variations in the cup or flower-pot shape. After these may come the jars and vases. Set a well-shaped piece of pottery before you as a model to copy, until you have ideas of your own to carry out, and learn to handle your clay before attempting too ambitious a subject.