Speech Example on Pottery

Introduction

Pottery is considered the art of forming vessels or objects of different shapes and sizes using different pottery materials such as clay or ceramic and then subjected to some form of heat in a kiln or furnace to provide the required hardness. Pottery has been available all over the world for long periods of years in the countries of Asia, Europe Africa, and America with each continent signifying their different forms of pottery work that is distinct from one another. In our discussion today, we are going to explore the art of pottery ranging from the techniques and the stages included in making beautiful pottery (Terpstra et al.).

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Pottery involves three basic techniques that assist in the successful construction of pots of various sizes. Hand building involves the creation of pots without the use if a pottery wheel but rather the use of the hands and finger together with a set of single hand tools. Hand building techniques comprise of pinch pottery, coil building, and slab building. To make a pinch pot, the fingers and the thumb are essential as the thumb is inserted into a ball of clay and then pinched in between them while it is rotated until the height of the vessel is achieved (How To Make Pottery). On the other hand, coil building is a method of forming that uses a rope-like coil of clay that has been assembled in successive courses in order to raise the walls of the vessel (Rice). Lastly, slab techniques involved the use of molds which take the shape of the vessel, are filled with clay which later takes the shape of the mould. This assists the workman to generate shapes that could not be achieved from the other two methods. Hand building techniques develop on creativity and skill of the potter.

The stages involved in making the various handmade pottery requires both intellectual and physical skills. First, the potter selects the clay depending on the demand of the final clay. They may be selected as either low fire or high fire clays. The method to be used in forming the clay is then selected, and the methods discussed earlier are the best of handmade methods. The clay is then formed depending on the skill level of the potter. The formed part is then placed in the kiln or furnace in order to be fired up for about 12 hours at a 455C as the heat treatment provides the required strength properties. The vessel is then painted with glaze with the design of the potter hence the bottom of the vessel should be covered in order to prevent the glaze run off. Once dry, smoothen off the excess glaze using sandpaper and reheat the vessel bu this time at lower temperatures (How To Make Pottery At Home: Complete Guide | Craft Schmaft).

Works Cited

Rice, Prudence M. Pottery analysis: a sourcebook. University of Chicago Press, 2015.

Terpstra, Karen et al. "Handbuilding Techniques Archives - Ceramic Arts Network". Ceramic Arts Network, 2019, https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/category/pottery-making-techniques/handbuilding-techniques/.

"How To Make Pottery". Wikihow, 2019, https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Pottery.

"How To Make Pottery At Home: Complete Guide | Craft Schmaft". Craftschmaft.Com, 2019, https://craftschmaft.com/how-to-make-pottery-at-home-ultimate-guide/