Urdido
Sculpting Workshop
Summer 2019
Vases each H 90 cm
Sculpting Workshop
Summer 2019
Vases each H 90 cm
What I love the most about ceramics is that it's a never-ending learning process. I really enjoy taking part in master classes or workshops and learning different techniques used by ceramicists around the world. In summer 2019 I attended Urdido sculpting workshop and learned one of the most ancient hand-building methods still used in many parts of the world, mainly by women. In just one week I was able to build two 1m high vessels. They were later fired in the wooden kiln.
With this primitive technique you can make large jars without tools and a throwing wheel. You elevate the piece by forming the ball of clay directly with your fingers into a coil and immediately pressing it into the wall. It's a complex process that requires high concentration by doing several things simultaneosly — dancing around your piece in a circle backwards, forming the coils while attaching them, shaping the vessel and taking care of the quick growth so you prevent the walls from collapsing while continuing working.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7f6ef5706a4c83fbca0f6d729ec5952320025accba65d79160ad88f2d1ce8184/2020-12-28-03.33.48.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/17b043e07190714349ee0121cf8148f1f3f4b4954b381791631553661b81a303/2020-12-28-03.33.43.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3593f54fa403cd00eec730a98a48e0e822d0396b4f7a4274aa7ca42bf696ed82/2020-12-28-03.33.52.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2990842cbe59e8448bf85f436ae00037c97d5f3994f2566eb6ca0ddba70e3a91/2020-12-28-03.33.56.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f5ea346e4e1b2d36c97f44f16d344eeedf126160f4cc44ea330c663d11b3a8d7/2020-12-28-03.33.38.jpg)
It's essential to use very soft clay with high grog percentage. For this project we were lucky to have a lot of terracotta from Mallorca and it was an additional joy to prepare our clay.