Form, Texture & Glaze

These are the three basic elements in our February Coil Pot project. The three need to work together to make a happy pot. Use these examples for inspiration.

FORM

A more upright form will show off your texture. Vases, urns and bottles are great but a straight-sided bowl can work too. The great thing about coiling is that things don’t have to be round. Maximum height is 20cm (but it can also be shorter).

Texture – Slip Trailing

This is a bit like using an icing bag to decorate a cake except you’ll use slip instead of icing.

  • Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery

Texture – Subtraction or Modelling

Other ways to add texture is by removing (or adding) clay with a tool or modelling with your fingers as you’re coiling.

  • As well as making my usual mini planters, (a few posts back if you want to take a look) I've also made these next size up planters. And as… | Instagram
  • ...cups and bowls and textures to be glazed at HCC. I enjoy these because I really don't care how they turn out...they're demos explorations and investigations. Some will be nice and some will not. I like it like that. by lyonclay
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  • Connie Augoustinos (@connieaugoustinos) • Instagram photos and videos
  • 2018 • Connie Augoustinos

Glaze

We’ll use my Stoneware glazes (the glaze used on my mugs) which break beautifully over texture. Layering the colours can give some groovy results and applying them over black slip gives a whole other dimension of groove. These examples show how glaze enhances the texture (although I may not have all of the same colours)

  • Shipwreck over amaco deep firebrick, cn ,5
  • Blue Rutile base coat x2 inside and out, with Smokey Merlot x2 inside and over upper two-thirds of outside
  • C-10 Snow over PC-53 Ancient Jasper | AMACO Brent
  • Glaze Layering | AMACO Brent
  • C-49 Rainforest over PC-31 Oatmeal | AMACO Brent
  • Midnight blue 3x under textured turquoise x4 on Standard 182 G clay.
  • PC-55 Chun Plum over C-49 Rainforest
  • Amaco Potter's Choice Ancient Jasper  Ancient Jasper is a fluid, opaque glaze that transitions from soft black to olive green to rust red as it is applied thicker. This glaze has an active, varied surface by itself and layers with our other Potter's Choice glazes with striking results.