PINCHED POTS
HISTORY AND MYP CONNECTION
MYP Global Context
Personal and Cultural Expression
What is the nature and purpose of
creative expression?
Key Objective
Cultural
You will gain an understanding of the beginnings of
pottery development in the Neolithic Culture,
specifically the pinch pot.
You will create a variety of pinch pots based upon your
skill level.
Inquiry Questions
How were pinch pots used in the Neolithic
culture?
How can I create something of impact?
What determines if something is functional?
You will be graded upon
Criterion A: Knowledge and Understanding
Do you have a thorough understanding of the topic being studied.
(Vocabulary and short answers)
Criterion B: Application –
Proficiency of your finished piece.
Criterion C: Reflection and evaluation
response to what you learned and the quality of your product.
Criterion D: Artistic Awareness and Personal Engagement
Did you actively participate, show initiative, enthusiasm, and
commitment?
Vocabulary to define and
understand
Pinch pot: forming a pot by pinching with the fingers
and the thumb.
Stoneware: high fire clay – fires at 2,400 degrees
Greenware: Unfired pottery that is bone-dry, a state in
which clay forms that is quite fragile.
Earthenware: low fire clay – fires at 1,800 degrees
Bisque-ware: The term refers to ceramic ware that has
been fired once without glaze.
Vocabulary cont.
Leather hard: Clay which is dried sufficiently to be stiff, but is
damp enough to be joined to other pieces.
Score and slip: score means that you make scratches in the
surfaces that you will be sticking together. Slip is when you
wet the surface that creates a glue like substance. If you do not
do this, the pieces will pop apart when fired.
Texture: The feel, appearance, or consistency of a surface or
substance.
Parts of a pot
Who were the Neolithic
People?
The Neolithic period began in China around 10,000 B.C.
These people lived in the later part of the Stone Age,
when ground or polished stone weapons and implements
prevailed.
In the Neolithic period farm animals were first
domesticated, and agriculture was introduced.
This is also when people began settlements in permanent
villages, and pottery and weaving appeared.
How did they discover
clay could be hardened?
They began to use clay pottery for cooking and keeping food
instead of animal skins and grass baskets.
Clay pottery lasted longer because it could withstand high
temperatures.
Some archeologists think that clay pottery was invented by
accident when a cook used clay to smooth the inside of a
basket, baked it over a fire, and then found only the clay bowl
left when the basket burned away.
This discovery improved the quality and comfort of people’s
daily lives.
Craftsman
Neolithic craftsmen discovered that they could etch
designs into their clay that would harden into permanent
decorations and furthermore that they could color their
products with glazes.
As a result, pottery became a medium of artistic
expression as well as a source of practical utensils.
Neolithic Pottery
This was the pre-wheel and pre-kiln era.
The pottery was much thicker. They added items to them
to make them studier – obsidian, straw, crushed shells,
and manure.
The pots were created by the women.
Some textural designs were made by fingernails. They
discovered how to incorporate ash into their clay to give
it a glossy luster look.
Neolithic pottery tools
Neolithic pottery tools
Pinched pots
Symbols of importance –
Dawenkou people, China
Ceramic Vessel
Probably a pig, a staple of
the Neolithic economy.
The Dawenkou people
cultivated millet and
domesticated pigs and other
livestock.
Head and jaws of pigs were
frequently buried with the
dead as symbols of wealth.
Neolithic Pottery at the
University of Utah Museum of
Fine Arts
Making your Pinch Pot
Step 1 – Make
a smooth ball
of clay.
Your Pinch Pot
Step 2: stick
your thumb
halfway
through the
ball of clay.
Pinch Pot
Step 3: Pinching
evenly with your
fingers and your
thumb in the
hole, press and
rotate to widen
the opening.
Pinch pot
Thickness of body
should be about ¼ inch.
If it is too thick, it will
take too long to dry
before it can be placed
in the kiln to fire.
If it is too thin it will
crack and perhaps
break apart during the
firing process.
Pinch Pot
Step 4: when your
pinch pot has strong,
even walls, smooth the
surface and the lip with
just a drop or two of
water.
Do not add too much
water, or the pot will
fall apart.
Pinch Pot – adding feet
Make a coil to adhere to the
bottom of the pot.
Slip and score the surfaces
that will be touch each other.
Lightly blend the inside and
outside of the coil onto the
pot.
Lightly tap to ensure the the
bottom of the foot is slightly
flat, so the pot will not roll
over.
Check to see if it is centered.
Sign your pot
Use a needle tool and carve your name
into the bottom.
Do not press too hard, or you will break
the surface.
Adding texture
Think of all the items
you could use to create
texture onto the outside
of your pot.
You have to be gentle
because it is fairly soft,
or you could wait a
couple of days until it is
leather hard to etch
some designs.
Painting after firing
Samples of pinch pots
Create your own
Now you will create your own pinch pot. I’d like you to
create three and select your favorite to be fired.
After it is fired, we will paint the surface with acrylic.
This means it will not be a pot to eat or drink from. We
will use glaze with some future pots.
Once this skill is mastered, we will create a variety of
ceramic pieces using the same techniques, but with some
variety added in for fun.
Some Creative Pinch Pots
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