Why Pottery?
Pottery is one of the oldest human inventions dating back 10,000 years, and is the first synthetic material ever created by man. During the ancient world, people used pottery to make pots that could transport essential goods such as water derived from a nearby river. It is an academic that was shared by many cultures from all over the world.
Pottery is made by forming and shaping clay into a shape and then heating it to high temperatures. Once it reaches the desired temperature, the pottery will harden and strengthen permanently, transforming it.
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The most common technique for shaping clay is hand building and wheel throwing, both of which we provide here at Artsy Edge. Hand building is the technique of using your hands to create shapes and forms with the clay without using machinery such as a throwing wheel. Before the throwing wheel was invented, hand building was the only way that people could create their desired shapes. The three most common hand building techniques are pinch pots, slab building, and coil building.
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Wheel Throwing is ​the technique of shaping clay using a potters wheel, a machine used to shape a ball of ceramic clay. The process is commonly known as "Throwing", as one would throw clay on the wheel to create cylinder shapes.