Making Penguins from Coil Pots

Posted by Jo Murphy Dec 25, 2006

Art Area:

You will find it easier if you have

1. Bench space.
2. Running Water.
3. Plenty of light.
4. Plenty of containers buckets and rags available
5. Recycling Set Up

Materials:

1. A block of hand building clay
2. Modelling Tools and Sponge
3. Skewers and Probes, Hooks and Paddle Pop Sticks
4. Metal Scrapers and Shapers
5. Cutting wire
6. A stand for the pot or the sculpture
7. Plastic to cover table
8. Access to a kiln for firing
9. A box for storage
10. Plastic wrap to wrap the drying sculpture in

Technique:

1. Cut a small ammount of clay from the block.
2. Make an egg shape with the clay by rolling it gently in the palm of your hand.
3. Don’t over handle clay (do as quickly as possible. )
4. Roll backwards and forwards very, very gently
5. As you do this it will stretch outwards from the middle so that the coil evenly gets longer and thinner.
6. Don't roll the coil any thinner than your little finger.
7. Roll a small ammount around into a snail and then drag lightly across the coils so that they weld into a flat surface.
8. Roll a coil around so that the coils start to form upward to make half an egg.
9. Make very sure that you weld each coil together before travelling upwards.
10. Keep building the shape upwards one coil at a time into the from you are wanting.
11. Cut wings out of a small piece of clay rolled out to the desired thickness.
12. Make another smaller coil pot for the head and join both the wings and the head on to the body.
13. From here you have the raw creature with hollow inside so that it is not too thick for firing.
14. The next step is to fashion the penguin to be the gross shape you want.
15. Cut a triangle out of the egg shaped body at the feet and bend back the feet so that the penguin has a tripod like stand and a gaping hole in the bottom underneath.
16. The gross shape is then put aside.
17. A few hours will allow it to become leather hard and easier to carve.
18. Now firmer it will be able to hold shape more easily.
19. It will be easier to handle when leather dry and won't bend with any slight touch.
20. Example Example