Studio life: handbuilding...
Handbuilding is the process of modelling clay without much mechanical assistance. Throwing involves modelling clay on a Potter’s Wheel (motor or momentum). Handformed pots can be formed from a mass of clay, coils, slabs, extrusions, thrown parts. Strips, sheet materials, and components are choreographed and assembled. Handbuilding processes can be additive or reductive, constructional and flexible. You can scale up and down without months of practice - or strength - and can do it with basic kit. It’s accessible.
Throwing on a Potter’s Wheel is an immediate connection with a responsive material, the process is calming and mediative to watch and doing it can satisfy the need for deep connection and flow to counterbalance the distractions of modern life. Throwing is why many people first visit the studio and why many come back. Sometimes it’s also why people don’t come back - it takes time to master, is messy, and can be tough on your hands.
Recently we’ve been reviewing our Handbuilding offering. Handbuilding shares many of the positive benefits of throwing. Why does it lag behind? Sunken Studio was built on handbuilding classes. Several moves, new team members, and a need to quickly adapt has seen us shift in focus. We talk about throwing more, we show you more thrown pots, we now make thrown pots. The shift is a good example of how bias can shape what you become and not the full extent of your potential. Pottery is a huge discipline. Handbuilding is a significant part of a potter’s vocabulary and it was practiced long before the Potter’s Wheel was invented. We are revising many of our courses to include wheel work and handbuilding to encourage play in both disciplines, and to take a diagnostic approach to working out what might suit you best - it could be combining both. We will also continue to offer specialist classes in each discipline to top up basic skills where you need them.
Hack: the scribe
It's a scalpel blade stuck on a block. What do we use it for? Watch how we chop up pots with confidence.