Carve Your Clay: Techniques to Bring the Ceramics Surface to Life

By Hilda Carr

Apply interesting and inspired surface techniques to your ceramic work through twenty step-by-step projects, including a combed mug, faceted jug, and more.

Carve Your Clay takes you through creative techniques that produce amazing, dynamic results, including inlay, piercing, sgraffito, etching, relief carving, wire cutting, and more. Gain new skills as you complete twenty projects featuring author Hilda Carr’s signature style, each with clear step-by-step photography and easy-to-follow instruction to achieve beautiful results.

This comprehensive book includes an easy guide on how to create basic forms, as well as glazing and firing techniques. Whether you are new to ceramics or are a more experienced potter looking to explore new surface design techniques, Carve Your Clay will educate and inspire you.

“Profusely and effective illustrated throughout, a complete course of thoroughly user friendly and artist inspiring instruction making it an ideal DIY manual.” —Midwest Book Review

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Apr 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781631598500

Book preview

Carve Your Clay: Techniques To Bring The Pottery Surface To Life

Carve your clay

TECHNIQUES TO BRING THE POTTERY SURFACE TO LIFE

Hilda Carr

Contents

Meet Hilda

CHAPTER ONE: BASICS

Clays for Carving

Tools for Carving

Forming

Carving Techniques

Notes on Glazing

CHAPTER TWO: PROJECTS

Geometric Carved Tile

Sgraffito Vase

Textured Bowl

Combed Mug

Contrast-Carved Planter

Fluted Stem Vase

Incised Candle Holder

Faceted Jug

Impressed Mini Planter

Sgraffito Serving Plate

Fettled Hanging Planter

Angle-Carved Candlestick

Inlayed Storage Jar

Slip-Cast Beaker

Bellied Bowl

Agateware Serving Bowl

Index

Author Acknowledgments

Meet Hilda

I started a ceramics course one rainy Saturday in November and I was hooked straight away.

When everything else in life is so hectic—when we only feel productive if we’ve managed to cross twenty things off our to-do list—pottery for me was the antidote. There is something so calmingly simple about taking a lump of earth and slowly shaping it with your hands into something beautiful. The process of carving into clay has a definite meditative quality: it’s slow, it’s measured, and it requires your full attention. It appeals to me as much for the aesthetic that it gives to a piece as the pleasure that I get from making it.

I remember, at one of my first pottery classes, spending the majority of the lesson hunched over a workbench with a clay bowl in front of me, slowly but carefully carving an intricate texture into the surface. I found the process so absorbing that when I stepped out of the studio at the end of the lesson and into the fresh air, it literally felt like I was landing back on planet Earth; it was as if for a couple of hours at least I could forget everything else.

I hope the projects in this book inspire you to create your own carved pieces and that the techniques, and the results they produce, bring as much joy to you as they do to me.

01/Basics

In this chapter you’ll find information on the basic elements to consider before you start making your carved piece. Hilda will introduce you to her essential carving tools and discuss which clay is best for creating carved pieces—and what state it should be in. You’ll also find an overview of the carving techniques that are covered in the book, and which projects you will find them in.

Clays for Carving

In my own work I primarily use stoneware clay. It is perfect for carving. It’s very strong, waterproof, and is durable enough to be used for everyday pieces.

There are many different types of stoneware to choose from—from very smooth to heavily grogged. A clay that is grogged has very small pieces of fired clay mixed into the clay body. Grog can help add stability, particularly to hand-built pieces, and can also add a wonderful rough texture, giving an extra dimension to your piece.

The clay that you choose for your carved piece will depend on the technique and tools that you’re using, as well as the overall look and feel that you want to achieve. A smooth clay creates a perfect backdrop for those pieces where you want the focus to be the surface design—it allows you to create fine lines and detail, and let the pattern really sing. If it’s all about the texture then you can get some wonderful tactile effects with a grogged clay. For tiles and other hand-built pieces, look for clays that are specially formulated for this purpose. They generally have less plasticity, making them less prone to warping.

THE STATE OF CLAY

When you make a piece of pottery, the clay goes through a drying process; from soft and malleable when the piece is formed, to bone dry when all the moisture has evaporated and it’s ready for firing. In between these two states is a stage known as leather-hard. This is the most important stage when it comes to carving clay, and the success of your carved piece will depend heavily on you catching it at just the right time. Leather-hard is the point at which the clay is still pliable, but no longer tacky to the touch. When clay is at this stage it is robust enough to be handled without risk of warping the shape, but still supple enough to allow for sections of clay to be carved away or detail to be added.

Within the leather-hard stage there is a bit of wiggle room, however. Sgraffito, for example, is more effective when the clay is on the drier side of leather-hard—but not yet bone dry—as we just want to scrape away the top layer of slip rather than cut into the clay. (Sgraffito means scratched away in Italian.) Techniques that require larger tools, such as faceting, are best done when the clay is on the softer side—still slightly tacky to the touch—to allow the tool to cut through large sections of clay easily.

Within each project I will give you tips on what stage the clay should be at before you begin carving.

Smooth clay

Lightly grogged clay

Heavily grogged clay

TOO WET

If the clay is too wet, the carved pieces will stick to the pot as you try to remove them, and you won’t get a clean finish. You’ll also risk warping your pot as it won’t be stable enough to handle at this stage.

TOO DRY

If the clay is too dry, the tool will scratch into the clay rather than cut into it. You’ll have to apply so much pressure that you’ll risk cracking or warping your pot.

JUST RIGHT

When you get your clay in just the right leather-hard state, the tool cuts through the clay smoothly and the carved pieces come away easily.

Tools for Carving

My collection of carving tools is always expanding. I love experimenting with new tools and discovering new ways to achieve a particular look or effect. Here, we’re going to look specifically at the tools needed to carve into clay rather than general pottery tools.

Don’t limit yourself to purchasing specialist pottery tools; a number of my tools are either home-made or re-purposed items from around the house. And never forget the most important tools at your disposal—your hands! You can soften down carved lines and edges by wetting your thumb or finger and smoothing over the lines. Depending on how subtle you want your carving to appear, you can simply apply less or more pressure to get your desired effect.

A great way to get an idea of what effects you can achieve with

Reviews for Carve Your Clay

[cathygeha · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Carve Your Clay by Hilda CarrIn pages 28-129 I found this an interesting, comprehensive, easy to understand book detailing how to create beautiful carved clay pieces that would be lovely to have in one’s home. It made me wish I had a potter’s wheel, clay and tools to play with. I also wondered what came before and after the pages I was able to download. What I liked: * The details of how items were created* The use of varied colors of slip to create a shape then what happens when it is carved* inlaying color – putting color into carved areas versus carving into an all over wash* varieties of carving* use of more than one color of clay to create an object* techniques used to create lids, handles and other items* All of it really* The gorgeous pieces shared in the bookWhat I didn’t like* Missing pages* Not seeing the index, introduction, cover, back-cover, preface, etc.Did I like this book? What I saw of it I did likeThank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Quarry for the ARC – This is my honest review. 4-5 Stars