”You align yourself with an universal experience, because man has always tried to understand and form a relationship with the natural world by recording parts of its beauty…” Mary Rogers – On pottery and porcelain

So here I am, living my dream. I actually still haven’t really taken it all in – I’m really doing this, finally! I’m through my second week of ceramic studies and I’m loving it! We’ve started with easy excercises to slowly get into the clay groove. First we started with a piece of earthenware, Finnish red clay, but now we all have a 10 kg bag of it in front of us. The groove is on!

These first weeks we’re studying different beginner’s techniques – how to mold clay in our hands into something without any special tools. The first technique we learned is called pinching. It’s basically just that, pinching clay between the fingers. First I need to push a hole into a lump of clay with my thumb, while nestling it in my other hand for support. Sounds simple enough, but it takes time and effort to pinch-build a crude hollow form into a delicate cup for example.

The magic is to get the clay body’s walls even and in my case as thin as I can. It does take some concentration and humility because you cannot hurry the process. Pinch by pinch I slowly raise the clay mass from the bottom to the top – keeping in mind the shape and the object I want the clay to transform into. This time I decided to make pyramid shapes (a new shape for me).

Occasionally I need to let the clay rest. This allows the shape to harden a bit. If I made it in one go, it could collapse due to softness of the material. Luckily this hasn’t happened yet!

After the pinching is done and I’m happy with the result, I slowly let the work dry. The best way is to cover it lightly with a plastic sheet or bag. Then the dried work is loaded into a kiln for bisque firing. More about this step later on…

While I was browsing through some ceramic books I found this amazing Cornwall based ceramic artesan, Hannah Lawrence. Her work is so lovely and made by pinching technique. Her utilities are so subtle and warm – you can see her touch on the clay. Like the little piching marks on the surface and how the glazing is trapped in them. I would just love to hold these cups in my hands and admire their beauty forever.

Even though pinching is a really simple method, it holds the makers originality. You can feel their touch and feelings on the clay – the love and care that absorbs into it. After all the shapes are organic and made by hand. I think that’s the reason I like this technique so much.

//Jenni//

P.S. Later I’ll post some pics of the fired pieces when they’re done.