How to Create a Two-Part Pottery Vase - A Journey of Learning

Embark on a 51-minute pottery journey, exploring the creation of handmade two-part vases. Witness the challenges and failures encountered during the process, gaining valuable insights into problem-solving and idea testing in ceramics. Learn about wedging clay, throwing techniques for vase bodies and upper walls, joining methods, trimming, and glazing. Observe the bisque firing process in an electric kiln and reduction firing in a gas kiln. Discover how to handle setbacks, including unpacking fallen pots and managing failures. Follow along as the artist navigates through each step, from initial clay preparation to the final sanding and presentation of the finished vase, providing an authentic and educational look into the world of pottery making.

- Introduction
- Wedging clay
- Throwing the body of the vase
- Throwing the upper walls of the vase
- Scoring and slipping the parts together
- Incising out the excess to form the rim
- Melding the two parts together
- Drying the vases out slowly to leather hard
- Trimming the vases
- Loading the electric kiln for a bisque firing, 1000ºc
- Unpacking the now bisque fired pots
- Waxing the bases of the vases
- Glazing the vases
- Cleaning over the glazed surfaces
- Cleaning the bases of the vases
- Painting bat wash onto a silicon carbide kiln shelf
- Packing the gas kiln for a reduction firing, 1290º
- Ciro, the mascot
- Firing the gas kiln
- Unpacking the gas kiln a few days later
- Unloading the 'fallen' pot
- A close up of the crumpled vessel
- Smashing the failed pot
- Sanding the base of the pot
- The finished vase
- Tidying up