This video covers the foundational basics of building pottery by using coils as well as using 15 different decorative coil techniques which my Ceramics I students use in making a coil skillbuilder, and will use many of these techniques on our sculptural shoe project. I have a FOLLOW-UP video on how to clean the carving for greater precision, which can be found here:    • Cleaning Leatherhard Decorative Coil ...  

As promised, here is the pdf I made of the poster of techniques and step by step assembly: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ya7R...
If I can find the original document with the photos of coil techniques, I will share that as well.

Coil rolling is a skill to develop and here are some of my tips I show and explain:
1 squish clay into a sausage shape
2 twist ends in opposite directions
3 roll using your whole palm
4 pull hands apart to thin
5 push hands together to thicken
6 moisten coil occasionally
7 score and slip and blend first coil
8 fresh clay to fresh clay can just be moistened and blended

At the 14:20 mark, I have a screen to pause the video if you want to pause to practice the basics of coil rolling and making the bases and first coils.

At 14:20, then I begin showing 15 different coil techniques I show my kids while building. Don’t be limited by these, be adventurous and try to develop some more! The techniques I show are:
Straight coil
Rope
Snail Coils
Opposite End Snail Coils
Foldy-fence
Rainbow
Balls
Panels made from straight coils- can use a pattern to cut out
Thicker coil slightly flattened and stamped (could be carved leatherhard
Loopy String (like shoestrings)
Ribbon Wedge
Slab (can be textured and shaped-domed) Can use a pattern to cut out
Moving the edge inward or outward by placing the new coils slightly to the interior or exterior of the previous coil
Sculptural elements


I would clean further once the form is leatherhard with sculpting and cleaning any defects on the surface of the coils- sculpting it to look as natural as the intended coils as possible.

For the great tools I used in the video (including the mudtools shedders, ribs, and kemper mini ribbon tools) check out this link to a live Googledoc I continually update with lots of my favorite tools on Amazon using my associate links! (also some non-amazon suggestions on here!)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X...

I am a public high school ceramics teacher at William Mason High School in Mason, Ohio. (Mason is currently the largest high school in Ohio!) As a potter, I have been working in clay for over 30 years, and I have been teaching for over 28 years, the past 20 have been specifically teaching high school ceramics. I love what I do! I have my own studio in my home basement, where I work on my personal pottery for my Etsy site; https://www.etsy.com/shop/KaransPotsA...

I started my Youtube channel a few years ago, to make videos to help my students if they are absent and miss a demo, or if they would like to explore more advanced techniques independently. I have been amazed to reach such a wider audience than my own students!

Please subscribe to my channel if you would like to receive channel updates, or would like to learn more about clay and studio processes!