Pinch Pots
Featured Crafts
Supplies Needed
- White air dry clay (e.g. Crayola Air Dry Clay, Amaco Stonex white clay, Prang DAS Air Hardening Clay) or homemade salt dough
- Acrylic paint
- Paint brushes
- Clear acrylic sealer (gloss finish) or decoupage medium (e.g. Mod Podge)
- Clay sculpting tools, play dough tools, or household items like small spoons, craft sticks, toothpicks, or spent ballpoint pens
STEPS
1Prepare the clay.
To make this project, you will need white self-hardening clay or air dry clay. We used Crayola air-dry clay but there are other brands that you can use as well.
If you want a natural and homemade alternative, you can make some salt dough.
2Form the clay into a ball.
Take a big chunk of clay and form it into a ball.
3Make a hole.
Hold the ball of clay with one hand and use your other thumb to press into the center of the ball of clay. Press until your thumb is about ¼ to ½ inch from the bottom.
4Widen the hole.
Slowly widen the hole by pinching up the walls. Turn the piece slowly as you pinch to keep the walls even in thickness.
5Form into a bowl or pot.
Continue drawing the walls to gradually mold the piece into a bowl, pot or cup. The bottom and the walls must at least be ¼-inch thick.
6Flatten the bottom.
Flatten the bottom of the bowl by gently pressing on it from the inside. This will let your bowl or pot stand stable when placed on a table or flat surface.
7Add smaller clay parts.
As an option, you can add a handle or create small clay details like flowers. Simply mold clay into the desired shape, then connect these to the main pot or bowl. Moisten and pat the clay around the new piece to fix it in place.
For this pot, I molded clay into a small sausage shape then connected it to the side of the pot to make a handle. I made another long sausage shape to put around the pot's lip.
8Carve out details.
Once you're happy with the shape of your bowl or pot, you can carve some details like lines, dots or grooves. Use clay sculpting tools, play dough tools or common household items like craft sticks, small spoons, toothpicks or spent ballpoint pens.
You can also press shapes onto the clay. Bottle caps are great for making circles.
9Smoothen the clay.
If you want to smoothen the surface of your pot, pat the clay with slightly damp fingers or use a moist paint brush to smoothen the surface of the clay.
10Let the clay dry.
Place the bowl or pot in a warm dry spot. It normally takes about 2-3 days for a small piece to dry completely.
11Paint the pot or bowl.
When completely dry, paint the pot or bowl with acrylic paint.
12Apply a sealer.
Once the paint is dry, spray the entire clay pot with clear acrylic sealer or apply 1-2 coats of decoupage medium (e.g. Mod Podge). Let the first coat dry before applying the second one.
More Ideas
Learn about different cultures.
Pottery is a tradition in almost all cultures around the world. To enrich a theme or lesson about a particular country or culture, you can make pinch pots that are decorated using traditional colors, designs and patterns. This particular pot was inspired by Mexican Talavera pottery.
Make an irregular-shaped pot.
Instead of making a conventional-shaped pot or bowl, go for an interesting irregular-shaped one.
Use colored clay.
Skip the painting step by using colored air dry clay. You can also color white clay by adding some acrylic paint, then knead until the clay is evenly colored.
Decorate the pot.
You can decorate the pot with buttons, gems, brads, seashells and other fun notions. Press the objects onto the bowl when the clay hasn't set yet. Pat the clay around the edges of the objects to fix them in place. Another option is to attach the objects with a glue gun after sealing the pot in Step 12.
