Pinch Pots

In this project students created a small pot utilizing clay.  To begin with, the teachers went through a brief history of clay pots including their uses in the Native American culture, and how they differed from culture to culture.  The teachers went through the pinch pots process and the vocabulary included such as wedging, pinching, and slip.  First students kneaded, or wedged, the clay to work all of the air bubbles out.  Then students threw the clay onto the table, picked it up, and cut it in half with a wire to make sure there were no air bubbles left.  This was followed by a quick wedging to make the two pieces of clay become one.  After that, students tossed the ball back and forth between two hands to form it into a ball.  Once into a ball, the students gently pressed the center using their thumbs.  Students continued to gently press with their thumbs while slowly turning the clay.  Once into the desired shape, students smoothed out the clay with slip, a watery clay mixture, and their thumb.  If students wanted to add any shapes to their clay, such as the hearts in the example provided, they scored both the clay pot and the cut out objected, put a little bit of slip on both areas, and put them together.

An extension activity for this project would be to have the students research various Native American cultures and have them create a pinch pot in the fashion of the culture.  This would include the décor of the pinch pot, along with its shape and the contents.  Students could present their pots along with the research they found for that culture to the class.