Pottery Handbuilding
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Have you heard the term "handbuilding" and wondered - how is it different from the wheel, where to find classes in handbuilding, or what is a handbuilding pottery workshop?
Handbuilding is basically anything you make in clay without the use of a wheel. We love handbuilding and do tons of interesting workshops and events utilizing handbuilding methods. It's very beginner friendly and also a great way to explore clay while also getting very good results. It's also a great way to have a company event that is conducive to chatting and also creative!
The 3 main methods of handbuilding are pinching, coiling, and slab building.
Pinching is actually a skill that has many similarities to the wheel: the walls want to stretch out into a bowl, the weight tends to be at the bottom, and you want to pinch in a consistent circle, similar to the spin of the wheel, though much much slower. You start with a ball of clay and pinch it into a bowl-like shape, what you do from there is limitless!
Coiling is a handbuilding method that uses clay "coils" to build. A coil is basically a long clay rope rolled out and attached. You can coil to add height to something that was made by any other method. For example, master potter Kwak Kyungtae, who came to our studio to teach several workshops, uses a Korean method of coiling called onggi. His vessels are upwards of 6 feet tall! He starts by throwing a base and first level and then adds large coils to build on top. Throwing a vessel like this entirely on the wheel is close to impossible.
Slab building is a method of handbuilding that uses clay "slabs" or rolled out flat pieces of clay. At a studio you can use a slab roller, a machine that does the rolling for you, but at home you can just use 2 paint sticks and a dowel! If you're looking for how to start pottery handbuilding for beginners, this is a perfect activity to try at home. We recommend taking a lesson first to learn how to make the slabs strong and to have a successful firing result, but once you have the basics down, you can do it at home or come to our Independent Studio and practice. Some people like to come to Independent Studio (our version of Open Studio) to experiment and decide what kinds of tools they may want at home, or even come to supplement their home handbuilding practice.
We hope you've found this post helpful and, as always, we continue to always write out blog posts without the use of AI (for better or worse ha!). Drop us a line if you want to take a class, book a group, or just have feedback. We'd love to hear from you!