The potter’s wheel is a process in which a ball of clay is placed in the center of a turntable, called the wheel head, which the potter rotates either with a stick, with foot power or with a variable speed electric motor. During that specific process, the wheel rotates rapidly while the solid ball of clay is squeezed, pressed and pulled upwards and downwards into a concave shape. From around the seventh century B.C, the potter’s wheel was the most effective method of mass producing pottery, even though it is mostly used for individual pieces. Wheeling requires the potter to be very experienced in order to make identical plates, vases, or bowls but it takes time for one to become experienced. As a matter of fact, wheeling is mostly used for the radial symmetry of pottery. All other details such as handles, lids, feet, etc. are added by hand working. Another method used for shaping is jiggering and jolleying.
Jiggering and jolleying are operations carried out on the wheel in order to reduce the time taken to make a pot. Jiggering is the process in which a shaped tool is brought in contact with the plastic clay of a piece under construction. Jiggering and jolleying differ only in the fact that jiggering is mostly used on flat objects such as plates where as jolleying is used for more hollow shapes such as cups.
Another tool used for shaping pottery is the roller-head machine. This machine is used for shaping wares on a rotating mould, just like jiggering and jolleying, only that this uses a rotary shaping tool replacing the fixed profile. The shaping tool is a shallow cone having the same diameter as the ware being formed and shaped to the desired form of the back of the article being made. Wares may in this way be shaped at a rate of about 12 pieces per minute. However this varies based on the sizes of the articles produced. The Roller-head machine is used worldwide in most of the factories nowadays. Other kinds of shaping are used in factories such as the RAM pressing and the granulate pressing which are used by placing the clay into a mould and all air is compressed through the porous mould plates to release the shaped wares.
Last but not least, the method of slip casting is used only for shapes that cannot be produced with other ways. It involves pouring very soft clay into a plaster mould. Water from the slip is absorbed into the mould leaving a layer of clay body covering its internal surfaces and taking a certain shape. The mould is then split open and the moulded object is removed. Slip casting is mostly used for little detailed figurines. After shaping the clay, one comes across the process of decorating and glazing the product.
In order to decorate the piece of pottery, one can use paint, or carvings, most people wait for the clay to be half dried in order to carve something on it. After having decorated the pottery, it can be ready for glazing. Glaze is a glassy coating applied to pottery, the primary purposes of which include decoration and protection. Glazes are highly inconsistent in composition but usually comprise a mixture of ingredients that usually mature at kiln temperatures lower than that of the pottery that it coats. One important use of glaze is in rendering pottery vessels impermeable to water and other liquids. Glaze may be applied by dusting it over the clay, spraying, dipping, trailing or brushing on a thin mixture composed of glaze minerals and water. Brushing tends not to give an even covering but can be effective as a decorative technique. The color of a glaze before it has been fired may be significantly different than afterwards. To prevent glazed wares sticking to kiln furniture during firing, either a small part of the object being fired (for example, the foot) is left unglazed. These are removed after the firing. Special methods of glazing are sometimes carried out in the kiln. One example is , where is introduced to the kiln to produce a glaze of mottled, orange peel texture. Materials other than salt are also used to glaze wares in the kiln, including sulphur, which would give it a more lime greenish colour.
After glazing the body, one can proceed to the firing process. Firing is the most important part of the process because it is only then that one can call the finished project “pottery”. In all cases the object of firing is to permanently harden the wares and the firing regime must be appropriate to the materials used to make them. As a rough guide, earthen wares are normally fired at temperatures in the range of about 1000 to 1200 degrees Celsius; stone wares at between about 1100 to 1300 degrees Celsius; and porcelains at between about 1200 to 1400 degrees Celsius. However, the way that ceramics mature in the kiln is influenced not only by the peak temperature achieved, but also by the duration of the period of firing. Thus, the maximum temperature within a kiln is often held constant for a period of time to soak the wares, to produce the maturity required in the body of the wares.
Pottery is a very important aspect of our everyday life because of its history. It is believed it made its first appearance 29000 years ago in modern day Czeco Slovakia which were little figurines called Gravettian. The talent or usage one might preferably say, later on got spread around the world due to the trade and etc. Soon, people all around the world started making pottery. Pottery can say a lot about a certain society which is one of the fundamental elements that help archaeologists get to know more about a civilization. Early civilizations such as the Mesopotamian empire, the Greeks, the Romans, and the Egyptians, have carved in their whole history and daily lives in these pieces of pottery. Some civilizations even used pottery to carve in the taxes people had to pay. Therefore, pottery is one of the most important aspects that archaeologists look at when studying a society because a piece of pottery, as simple as it may look to one, it could tell an enormous amount of stories.
Bibliography page
"How to Make decorative pottery:shaping." Essortment. 2002. 15 Jun 2009 <http://www.essortment.com/all/howtomakepott_rszy.htm>.
"The Art of Pottery Making." Pottery The Art. 15 Jun 2009 <http://members.tripod.com/kengeorgepottery/id3.htm>.
"The Shape of Ceramic Art." Light from Africa Foundation. 15 Jun 2009 <http://www.lightfromafrica.org/Art/Preview.asp?P=BuyArt&SP=5&PageID=14>.