subject: Tools Used in Pottery [print this page] Tools Used in Pottery Tools Used in Pottery
Everybody appreciates a beautifully decorated piece of pottery but very few of us know how many and what tools are involved in it beside the hand! A beginner especially will be totally baffled by some tools that are available in a potter's kit.
Wire or sometimes a fishing line is threaded through wooden handles on the two extreme sides to help in cutting blocks of clay or at times to cut off pots from the wheel head. This same wire is sometimes used to cut off hard pieces of clay over and over again to make it easily malleable by hand.
Sponges are very useful in wetting the clay if it begins to dry as well as absorbing the excess water accumulated at the bottom of a pot during throwing.
Tools like ribs are used for shaping as the pots are being formed. It may be either wooden or metallic. The wooden rib is oval shaped or triangular shaped and helps in easing pressure on the clay in order to facilitate increase in height of the pot. They also help in smoothening out any marks on the clay. The metallic rib is used to scrape off clay from the surface of the thrown pot.
Sheeting with old plastic bags is a great idea to wrap balls of clay or newly thrown pots from drying out early.
Keeping a towel on your lap is also not a bad idea while throwing. It will also be useful in wiping your hands while working with clay.
Potter's needle is an excellent tool for measuring the depth of the clay floor of the pot apart from being used in trimming the top edges of ware while working on the wheel.
Brushes of different sizes are basically a decorative tool.
Calipers are used by potters to measure the inner and outermost dimensions of their ware at those points where other parts of the same ware meet. For example lids of jars.
