Pinch Pottery: Functional, Modern Handbuilding Paperback – January 7, 2014

As a teacher of ceramics for 40 years I was delighted to see sparks of ideas igniteas I introduced my students to this inspiring and attractive book. The author’ssuccinct text and sequential flow of stages is crystal clear, and richly informativewithout being too technical . John Polak’s photography superbly illustrates theinstructions. This book guides you methodically and clearly from simple tospectacular with all the stages in between. It gently guides you from inspiration tothe problem solving perspiration of making.The book shows us how to elevate the rudimentary pinch pot associated with firstattempts at ceramics to the elegant and sophisticated evolutions of functionalware. An accomplished and internationally recognized ceramicist herself, shedraws on fundamental traditions of the past as well as contemporary internationalstudio ceramics. Exploratory doodles of incubating ideas give rise to resources fordesigning and decorating, taking us all the way through to delving intothe mysteries of fire and glaze.Creativity doesn’t flow in a straight line and although Susan Hall has sequentiallystructured the book, it’s inviting, user friendly design also makes it a very"flippable” and a “ begin anywhere “ book. This book is already a solid cornerstone ofmy art studio library and provides the scaffolding required for the methodology of21st century skills. Imagine. Design and Create.Cynthia Davies. Specialist Art Teacher. The Town School. New York.

The pictures in this book are really helpful, and the description of each technique are great. I've been handbuilding for almost a year and can make somewhat nice things but I would not say that I'm highly skilled. The author found a way to make the projects feel accessible but I find that I'm more likely to make something inspired by them rather than copy them. That tends to be the way I use these types of books. Sometimes I bring it to the studio with me for reference while I'm working. Of my pottery books it's my favorite. My favorite feature is that a variety of feet, handles, lids, glaze techniques, etc. are described in the sections before the projects in a way that makes it easy to combine them however you like. It also features profiles of a variety of work from ceramic artists. I've definitely gotten my money's worth.

I purchased this book w/out reading any ratings, which is not my norm. When it arrived w/ the other 2 books it was difficult deciding which to read first. This book won. The way in which Susan Halls presents the information is easy to follow and concise. She discusses the different shapes you can achieve using the pinching method, how to join to make bigger pieces, different edging, feet, handles, lids, pre-firing decoration techniques, patterns, glazing and much more. She also includes some fun projects that you can copy or make adjustments to meet your vision. I would stingily recommend to anyone that wants to go beyond the basic pinch pot and to expand their knowledge that can be carried over to other aspects of pottery.

Really neat pinch pot ideas and techniques, tho I was NOT pleased with the inappropriate image on one of the pots. I bought this for my teenage son and was not impressed with that.

This was intended to be a birthday gift but while I was looking through it I decided I wanted one too. I love working with clay and this books has many great ideas.

Added this to my studio library. Very helpful for my hand build students. Good projects, decent instructions. I would buy again.

This book held a lot of great projects, inspiration, and resources such as guides and glaze recipes. I'm a beginner, but I am able to follow the instructions easily. I've read a few other books and am in a class, but I still think this is a great start for people who want to look into pinch pottery and see how amazing it can be.

As a new ceramics teacher this book has by far the best descriptions and detail I have come across. It is an invaluable resource for me in my classroom!

Tolle Beschreibung zu den unterschiedlichen Techniken, super!

Good book to have if you are a beginner the step by step techniques with photos are well put together in this book.

This is a good easy to read book with plenty of good advise and projects to make. It's easy to understand as the author doesn't make it a weighty tome by getting too technical, but still gives you the correct terminology. I enjoyed reading this book and can recommend it to anyone who is looking to expand their library or to have a go to book near the woek area.

An excellent resource book for instructor's and students. Introducing pinch pots to students can sometimes come across as boring, but this book has inspired me to be more creative and expand on the pinch pot instruction I always give on class 1 for beginners. Wonderful book!

People so often look down on 'pinch' pottery and it can seem and be a little dull but this book gives great practical tips on how to use the technique and develop it to make a series of different vessels.A great teaching aid, have used this to inform lessons and give projects. It's very simple step by step guide leads you from very basic steps through to much more elaborate and sophisticated uses.Has given a lot of inspiration and information.