You couldn’t help but notice the new fashion trend of our days - “handmade”. Do you think that the popularity of this type of activity is for no reason, and that people do it for fun? Of course not. There are many reasons for such an interesting and useful activity. You can consider this using the example of making dishes with your own hands. In this article we will look at options for making ceramic dishes.
Making dishes with your own hands
How to make dishes at home? First we need to decide on the material from which we will make something. The most common raw material for making dishes with your own hands is clay. Let's delve into all the intricacies of this matter and look at a few examples.
Becoming a master is easier than you might think
Clay dishes are a combination of beauty and practicality. Such equipment is the most ancient and had no alternatives for a long time. In ancient times, people did not use firing to create dishes, but then they learned to prepare ceramics.
Clay dishes cope with the preparation of a variety of dishes and are an integral assistant to the housewife. She:
- durable;
- heat resistant;
- environmentally friendly;
- beautiful.
Important! Some believe that the material used to make items draws out bad energy through a combination of water, earth, air and sun.
And doing something with your own hands is the most pleasant thing, because you put your soul into such things, and questions like: “did the manufacturer do his job well?” will, of course, not occur. So is it difficult to make dishes from clay? No, you will soon see this for yourself.
Making a clay plate with your own hands
Now we will consider in order all the nuances of making dishes from clay.
Preparation of material
The first step is to prepare the material with which we are going to work. Simply follow these tips:
- You need to find clay, and in order to determine whether it is suitable for making dishes: you need to take a small lump of slightly damp clay, roll it into a rope between your palms and bend it in half. If no cracks appear at the bend, then you can safely deal with such material.
- Place the required amount of clay in some deep container and fill it with water to the top.
- Don’t be afraid to go overboard with the amount of prepared material. Nobody forbids you to use the surplus in the next sculpting and make something else out of clay.
Clay elutriation
Elutriation will allow the clay to become more plastic, fatter and cleaner.
Important! Most often, elutriation is carried out with clay that contains sand in large quantities, which makes it less flexible.
What exactly needs to be done:
- We take a deep dish, put clay in it and fill it with water in a ratio of 1 to 3, leaving the material to moisten all night.
Important! The water should completely cover the clay in the container.
- In the morning, bring the mixture to a homogeneous consistency. Let the solution sit for several days. Further work can begin only when the water becomes lighter.
- Drain the water through a rubber hose.
- Scoop out the clay down to the very bottom layer. There is no need to touch the layer itself, because only stones and sand will remain there. Pour the composition into wooden box and leave in the sun to evaporate unnecessary moisture.
- When most of The water will evaporate, you can start mixing the clay. The material should dry until it takes on the consistency of dough and begins to stick to your hands. Now the finished clay, which should be covered with polyethylene, remains to wait for modeling.
Important! Be sure to remove the air before sculpting. To do this, knead the dough with your hands. You should add a little water if the material is very hard.
Let's move on to the next stage, in which you will make ceramic dishes. 
Making pottery
Objects can be made from clay strands or flat pieces. We recommend making dishes using the first method. We take a rolling pin and a piece of clay, roll it out and give it any desired shape. In this way you can easily make bowls or shallow plates.
In order to make a pot or vase from the material, you should adhere to a different technology:
- We make the bottom for our dishes as described above.
Important! The bottom should not be too thin. The optimal thickness should be approximately 2 cm.
- Cut the clay into pieces and use a rolling pin to make ropes out of them.
- We place the end of the tourniquet on the bottom and press firmly so that it is secured to the bottom.
- We place the rolled strands on top of each other, pressing the new layers.
- Moisten the strands with a small amount of water if the material hardens.
Important! You can create fancy vessels of various shapes using these sculpting methods.
Drying
There's no need to rush. Rushing can cause cracks and wrinkles on the surface of the ware, which can lead to defects during firing. Making dishes from clay is not difficult, but you can’t do it without patience. Just follow all the deadlines and the result will please you.
The dishes should be dried bottom up in a draft-free room for at least two days, then transfer the product to a warm oven and dry until the moisture has completely evaporated.
Important! The pot may burst during firing if you do not completely remove the moisture.
Firing the product
There are special stoves for various purposes that you can purchase and install at home. But we were talking about light and affordable way, so we will do the firing on a regular fire:
- We line the dishes with wood and set them on fire.
- We wait eight hours minimum.
Important! The longer you keep the product in the fire, the stronger it will be.
If you did everything correctly, then at the end you will have an excellent ceramic product that is highly durable. It is worth noting that the manufacturing method does not require any special costs. Making pottery from clay is not difficult, and constant practice will make you a master potter.
Five reasons to start sculpting
Still don't see a reason to get into crafts? You'll soon change your mind!
Reason #1: uniqueness
Only you can decide exactly how your clay plate will look. Imagine what a surprise your guests will be when, instead of buying a set from Posuda Center, you get a set that you made yourself. Such things will instantly attract attention.
Reason #2: environmental friendliness
Did you know that harmful materials are still used in the production of tableware? The glaze made from the same lead gives the product an attractive, beautiful shine. There is not much lead there, but using such utensils is more expensive.
Moreover, this kind of product is even prohibited in some countries. Better think 100 times before buying a cheap and bright cup or bowl.
Important! Do not forget that there are natural colored clays: blue, green, black.
Reason #3: replenishment
From broken mug or plates, your service will not be damaged, because you can always restore the loss. With the arrival of a new friend or family member, there is nothing stopping you from adding a new item to your collection. If necessary, you can absolutely always do something new and useful. And when looking through your vacation photos, you might see a beautiful vase in a gift shop and easily recreate it at home. Great, right?
Reason #4: quality
There are often cases of online purchases that disappoint you immediately after opening the package. The beautiful design began to peel off from the mug after washing, and the plate was scratched by cutlery.
When making dishes yourself, especially when processing them in a ceramic workshop under the watchful eye of a specialist, such disappointments are completely eliminated. You will be taught how to handle clay correctly, and all the nuances of manufacturing technology will be explained step by step, which will help make your dishes of the highest quality and practical.
Important! Such products will not be damaged by the dishwasher or microwave. Over the years of use, you will not see any cracks or peeling paint.
Reason No. 5: saving the family budget
Even if you have made only a couple of mugs, then this knowledge will be enough for you to competently understand dishes, materials and glazes. If some seller begins to assure you of the enormous cost of a coffee pair made of blue clay, then you can safely fight back and will not allow yourself to be deceived.
Video material
Well. Now all doubts about needlework have disappeared? Still would. Making dishes from clay is not only profitable, but fun! No one will stop you from making money from this or simply pleasing yourself, your friends and your loved ones. The best thing is that this activity does not require any special investments, except for one thing - the soul! By putting your soul into the process, you will experience indescribable delight when you drink tea from a saucer that you made yourself. Creative success to you!
IN Lately It has become very fashionable to make dishes and various interior items from clay with your own hands. We at the How to Green editorial office decided to figure out the reasons for the popularity of handmade ceramics, and turned to ceramic artistElena Subbotina . She named as many as 7 reasons (in addition to the obvious - creative self-realization and acquiring new craft knowledge) why it is worth making dishes for the home and various small items for the interior with your own hands.
Reason 1: uniqueness
Obviously, you can make a 100% unique set or tea pair for your kitchen either to order or with your own hands. Doing it yourself will be much cheaper. You have the opportunity to bring your wildest ideas to life and make exactly what will fit perfectly into your interior or be suitable as a gift to a loved one. And not only the design you need, but also the size you like. So it’s up to you to decide whether you’ll drink tea at home from huge cups and saucers, like in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, or from delicate tiny ones, like Kirsten Dunst’s heroine in the movie Marie Antoinette. By the way, making dishes for the home with your own hands is also convenient because, by creating, say, a service in the same style, you won’t have to overpay for soup or dessert plates that you don’t need, and then think about where to store them in your small kitchen. You will make for yourself only those plates, bowls, cups and mugs that you need and will use.
Reason 2: environmental friendliness
Did you know that some factories still use hazardous materials, including lead and cadmium, when making tableware? Lead glazes are very beautiful; the content of this metal gives the product a special shine. The amount of lead, of course, is small, but using this glaze is strictly prohibited. It is not recommended to even store dry food in such containers, let alone pour hot soup into a bowl of lead. In some countries there is a law that prohibits the use of lead in foodware in any quantity. However, in Russia, China, Africa, and the countries of the Southeast region, there is often no strict control over manufacturers who neglect the issue of ethics and consumer health, since purchasing bright, glossy, lead-free glazes is much more expensive in large-scale production. So think ten times before you buy a cheap, bright cup or bowl. Why do you need dishes that poison you with harmful substances? By creating your own pottery, you can control which materials and glazes you use to create your plates and cups. By the way, ceramics can be bright and without colored glazes at all. There are natural colored clays: blue, green, black, and even ordinary light types have a beautiful natural color. In order for the products to be functional and not allow water to pass through, they must be covered with colorless or white glaze, but you can completely refuse colored glaze or choose safe, proven options.
Reason 3: replenishment
If suddenly careless guests or you yourself dropped your favorite mug and broke it, it’s okay. Your service will not suffer from this, because you can always make a couple more plates or cups. The same is true in the case of a new addition to your family - the birth of a baby or the marriage of a beloved brother. You can always make the missing set of dishes in a couple of hours. If you went on a trip, you probably noticed very interesting interior items - large vases, picture frames, candlesticks. Sometimes things are so beautiful, you just fall in love with them, but taking them with you from a trip is difficult and too troublesome. And why? It’s enough to take a couple of photos on your smartphone and, when you return from vacation, make copies of your favorite interior items or dishes, but in your own style and to suit your tastes and needs.
Photo: ceramics studio Ceramic Forest
Reason 4: quality
A fairly common story: you bought beautiful dishes in an online store, but they turned out to be Bad quality. The bright pattern on the mug began to peel off after washing, and knife marks appeared on the plates. When producing your own dishes, especially in a ceramic workshop under the supervision of a master, such excesses are excluded. First of all, you will be taught how to handle clay correctly and will be explained the sequence of the technological process that will make your dishes high-quality and practical. So you can put it in the microwave and wash it without any problems. dishwasher. There is no risk of cracks or peeling paint.
Reason 5: saving the family budget
If you haven’t decided to produce a whole set, but just for fun, you’ve attended an introductory course on ceramics and made a couple of mugs, then even this knowledge will be enough for you to begin to understand tableware, types of clay and glazes, and the artist’s skill. If suddenly in a store a saleswoman begins to assure you that a pair of coffee costs 20,000 rubles because it is rare blue clay, then you can safely clarify whether it is natural or just an artificial color (a pigment mixed into ordinary white clay)? Dyed clay carries no value and you are paying solely for the brand. Expensive ceramics stores also like to use stamping. This means that the shape of the products is not unique: the patterns that are applied to them can simply be printed, and not drawn by the master. It’s another matter if you see on a market somewhere in the mountains of Andalusia a designer jug made of expensive materials, unique in shape and painted. You will immediately understand how much work the master has put into it and why it costs a decent amount. By the way, if the author of this work of art is suddenly exhibited in some gallery or museum of modern art, then the purchased jug can also be sold at a profit to collectors.
Reason 6: the issue with gifts has been resolved
Unique DIY ceramics are also exclusive gifts for family, friends and colleagues. You can personalize the dishes, leave initials on them, create any images and write wishes. For example, if you have unique lace left from your grandmother, then you can make an entire service with a unique print based on it. Thus, each family member will have a memory printed on a mug, plate, dish or teapot. Clay is an amazing living material that allows you to bring any idea to life. We use ceramic products every day, so these gifts are not only beautiful and unique, but also very useful for any person, regardless of their gender and age. By the way, it is not at all necessary to give dishes as a gift. You can create almost anything from ceramics. For example, floor tiles are an excellent gift for renovating the bathroom in your beloved mother’s apartment. Other interesting options:
- ceramic handles that will transform an ordinary stamped wooden chest of drawers into a real work of art for the chest of drawers;
- decorative sculpture, for example, for the garden;
- pots for indoor or garden flowers;
- tray;
- whistles for children;
- brooches for friends;
- soap dish and other bathroom accessories.
Photo: ceramics studio Ceramic Forest
Reason 7: additional income
After you learn how to make dishes with your own hands, make all the necessary plates for your own home, and give gifts to your friends and colleagues, it is quite possible to monetize your favorite hobby. Create, say, an online store on Instagram and produce unique dishes in your own style to order. By the way, the most popular are craftswomen with a fairly narrow specialization, who make, for example, beautiful openwork cake stands, unusually shaped mugs, or fruit dishes with unique designs. Who knows, maybe one day you will make plates not only for your beloved man or relatives as a gift, but also for an entire restaurant.
Where to make your own dishes?
You can make your own cookware at home. For this you will need necessary materials– clay, stacks, glaze and so on. burn finished goods It is possible at home, for this there are stoves that are suitable for a voltage of 220 W. But they are quite expensive - from 100,000 rubles. Therefore on initial stage easier to fire in special ovens in ceramic workshops. They usually accept items not made by them for firing without any problems and for a very reasonable fee. Before purchasing materials for your home, we would recommend that you take an introductory course on working with clay from a specialist. Usually ceramic workshops offer different variants. Depending on the amount of information, such training will take you from 2 hours to several days and will cost from 2-3 thousand rubles, taking into account the cost of all materials. If you haven’t yet decided what exactly you want to make from ceramics, it makes sense to purchase a subscription to the workshop and attend master classes that interest you. It will be easier and cheaper than immediately taking long, expensive courses. Typically, such master classes are held for several people at once, so you have an original option for spending leisure time with a friend or loved one.
By the way, you can make all the dishes that you see in the photo in this article with your own hands already in the first lesson...
How to determine whether you have found clay or not. This can be done in two ways. First, take a piece and try to roll it into a thin sausage; if it rolls out to a diameter of 3-5 mm, then you are already close to what you need. Now take a small bite and chew.
If your teeth don't creak and the substance in your mouth doesn't have a distinct taste or smell, you've found good clay. Take a sample home, dry it thoroughly in the air, and then heat it in a fire. If after this it does not crumble and acquires a homogeneous, slightly rough structure at the fracture, this clay is suitable for making dishes.
First you need to prepare the clay. To do this, the raw lump is thoroughly kneaded, just as hard dough is kneaded. In this case, it is necessary to periodically knock on it with your fist. This is done so that the clay becomes homogeneous throughout the entire volume, all excess air is removed from it, which guarantees the quality of the resulting product.
If the clay is too hard, you can add a little water. You can knead clay not only with your hands, but also with your feet, which is even easier. The result should be clay that does not stick to your hands, but is not too dry and brittle. To work using potter's wheel it is necessary to prepare the clay softer. But people mastered this technique much later, and we will do the same, having first examined the elementary technology of making pottery, which was used long before the invention of the potter’s wheel.
The actual production of dishes can be carried out in two main ways - from rolled out flat pieces and from strands, or some combination thereof.
The clay is rolled out like pie dough on something flat, covered with a previously damp cloth, to a thickness of 5-7 mm, after which the resulting pancake is formed into a bowl with your hands the desired shape. This method is good for making flat dishes, such as plates or shallow bowls, or something very small, like a fat (oil) lamp.
Making pots, cauldrons, jars, and jugs requires using a different technique.
Take a small piece of clay and roll out a rope with a diameter of 0.5-0.7 mm, from which you will form the walls of the vessel, twisting the rope into a spiral. If the vessel should have a flat bottom, proceed as described above, make a pancake and cut out a circle of the required size from it.
Laying it around the perimeter of the bottom right hand, with the thumb of your left hand, press on the surface of the tourniquet, achieving strong adhesion to the bottom. Then the next bundle is rolled out. Since the surface of the product gradually dries out, for better adhesion of the next turn it must be slightly moistened with water using a brush, a rag swab, or a bunch of feathers.
The described operations are repeated until the end of modeling, i.e. until the vessel capacity is completely formed.
If you want to get a vessel with smooth changes in diameter, during operation, apply the coils with a slight deviation outward when expanding, and inward when narrowing. To give the product greater strength during sculpting, the strands are smoothed and leveled from the inside with a stack or hands moistened with water.
After forming the container, you can attach handles, legs, etc. which I don’t advise you to do. For carrying, it is better to use wicker products and place them on special stands or sand.
After finishing sculpting, wrap your product in something similar to a rag or newspaper and place it on the table bottom up to dry for two days. Drying of the product should take place under natural conditions. First, it is desirable for the bottom to dry, and then the neck, so the vessel is placed this way, only then will the thing be durable. If the raw product cannot be placed on the neck, its upper part is wrapped with a damp cloth and dried in the position in which the thing was sculpted.
The product must dry to an air-dry state. If it is damp, it may burst during firing. Now the most important procedure is firing.
During the first firing, it is necessary to slowly raise the temperature to 300°C for 2-3 hours.
Before the process of sintering of clay particles begins, residual moisture must be removed. The main thing is to avoid sudden temperature changes and one-sided overheating of the product. Then we raise the temperature to 580°C, hold it for 10-15 minutes, after 15 minutes we give the temperature 900°C.
After this, we stop firing and let the products cool quietly to a temperature of no more than 30°C.
Only then can the product be removed.
Transforming clay into the most ordinary kitchen pot is an amazing process.
In fact, compare a piece of clay with a clay shard. Clay is crumbly and loose. The shard is dense and strong. The clay gets wet from the water and turns into dough. The shard does not change due to water. Clay can be given any shape: it can be sculpted, rolled into plates, twisted into ropes. The shape of a shard cannot be changed unless it is broken into pieces.
To figure it all out, let’s try to do it ourselves clay pot. It's not that difficult at all. They say that “it’s not the gods who burn the pots.”
To fashion a pot out of clay, you first need to prepare clay dough - mix clay with water. But we will not take anything on faith, but ask: is it possible to do without water?
It turns out that it is possible. A press was invented that molds clay products - tiles, dishes, floor tiles - without a single drop of water. Dry clay is placed in a steel mold and pressed with a steel die. True, this requires enormous pressure - two hundred atmospheres. Do you know what this means? To squeeze a book with such force, you would have to put four freight cars loaded to the top on top of it, one above the other. But you and I don’t have such a press. Of course, it is impossible to squeeze clay with such force with your hands.
Just as oil reduces friction in machines, water in clay dough reduces friction between individual clay particles. But molding consists of moving particles, forcing them to be positioned the way we want. And besides, the water does not allow them to crumble, but holds them one next to the other.
But this is not enough: by molding a clay product under pressure, we not only give it shape, but also compress it, making it denser. And water helps us with this.
If a product made from clay dough is dried, the water will evaporate. And because the clay particles come closer together, the product becomes denser. A clay brick can shorten by a whole quarter when it dries out.
The only bad thing is that, as the clay product dries out, it very often cracks, like the bottom of a dried-up puddle. You've probably seen cracks in clay soil that has dried out after rain. They resemble those huge chasms that form on the surface of the earth during an earthquake.
Dried cracked clay
To prevent the clay from cracking when drying, sand is added to it. Grains of sand, sitting here and there in the clay, hold it together like a strong frame or skeleton, and prevent it from shrinking too much.
After we have understood all this, we can get to work. Let's take out a piece of clay, add water to it - about a third - and knead it. If you add more water, the dough will get dirty on your hands; if less, it will crumble.
Add some very fine sand to the dough. Knead well so that the sand is not visible. All that remains is to fashion the pot.
The dough may not be successful the first time - after all, there are different types of clay. Some clays require more sand, others less. The composition of the test is best determined by experience. If one pot doesn't work out, we'll make another until we get what we need.
Here the pot is sculpted. But how wrong and unsightly he is! If you look at it from above, you can see that it is not round, but elongated, like the face of a person with a swollen cheek.
And it would be difficult to do better. After all, it is not at all easy to do by eye so that the walls everywhere are equally spaced from the middle. It's like drawing a circle without a compass.
Potters form pots on a special machine. A pottery machine is a round board that rotates on an axis. It is driven by the foot.
The potter places a piece of dough in the middle of the board and, pressing his thumb inside the dough, holds it with his other fingers on the outside. While rotating, the dough rubs against the potter's fingers and is leveled into a round wall. It's the same as drawing a circle by holding the compass steady and rotating the paper. The compass is the stationary hand of the potter, and the rotating paper is the round board of the potter's press.
Whether it’s good or bad, the pot is sculpted. Let's put it on a shelf somewhere to dry for two days.
When it dries, you will need to burn it. If the pot is not burned, it will not be possible to pour water into it. After all, water will turn unfired clay into dough again. It would be nice to have a pot that would get soggy from the water and crumble into mush!
Place the pot in the oven over hot coals.
Something bad can happen here. If the pot is not dried well, it will fall apart.
The heat will turn the water remaining in the clay into steam. And since steam takes up many times more space than water, it will tear the walls of the pot and escape into the wild. To prevent this from happening, the pot must be well dried.
While it’s standing in the oven, we’ll figure out why we hid it there.
During firing, clay particles are welded and fused together. This means that the burnt shard no longer consists of individual particles that can be easily moved by moistening with water, but of a continuous, sponge-like mass. That is why you can no longer make dough from a shard.
Pottery kiln
Pottery has been used by humans for centuries. Plates, jugs, pots, and teapots were made from it. Dishes in such a container come out juicy, aromatic and very tasty.
The advantages of earthenware are environmental safety and naturalness, because only natural materials are used for production. It does not react with food and retains heat or cold for a long time. Can be used for baking dishes in the oven. One of the most popular is http://shelkoviyput.ru/posuda/.
It is made from clay with or without coating. Dishes with a coating are called ceramics, while those without a glaze coating are simply earthenware.
Types of pottery:
- Porcelain - made from white kaolin clay). The products are thin and durable, have good heat resistance;
- Earthenware - also based on kaolin, but the production technology is slightly different. Such dishes will be thicker and more fragile;
- Terracotta products are based on red clay, which after firing acquires a cream or brown tint. It is from this material that containers for cooking in ovens are made, since the heat is distributed evenly;
- Smoky ceramic or black - perfect for cooking in a Dutch oven without oil, the dishes turn out juicy and with a crispy crust.
How to make pottery
Pottery is made from kaolin with the addition of waste materials and fluxes. Depending on the impurities, clay can have different colors and melting points. Thinning components are added to reduce shrinkage and avoid product deformation. Fluxes allow you to speed up the sintering process and increase the strength of the product; most often it is feldspar or limestone.
Before starting to make dishes, the clay is cleaned of minerals, crushed, sifted and mixed with necessary ingredients. The clay is then mixed with water and poured into molds. Molds are usually made from plaster. The frozen workpieces are removed and dried naturally or in special ovens at a temperature of 70-90 degrees. Firing is carried out in 2 stages. When the dishes are ready, they are covered with glaze and fired again.
How to make clay dishes by hand? Here the production technology is not much different. The main difference is that the mold is made on a potter's wheel.
Where to buy pottery in Moscow
When purchasing pottery, you need to pay attention to three main factors that determine its quality:
- The strength of the shard - the dishes must be strong, the surface should be smooth and not chipped;
- The quality of the glaze - it should be smooth;
- Decoration is a matter of taste; modern manufacturers and craftsmen offer a huge selection, designed to suit different tastes.
It is best to buy pottery in Moscow from a trusted supplier with a good reputation. You can ask your friends or search for information on the Internet, pay attention to reviews. I bought Uzbek pottery in Moscow on the recommendations of friends, the quality is excellent, big choice. I use it virtually every day, so far I have no complaints.
Uzbek pottery
Uzbek pottery is especially popular due to its high quality and amazing design. It will be a wonderful decoration for festive table or a weekday family dinner.
The most popular Uzbek pottery:
- Lyagan is a flat large dish, usually decorated with national ornaments. Usually it serves pilaf, fruits, vegetables;
- Spit or kasushka - a bowl for first courses;
- A bowl is very similar to a bowl, but is smaller in size. Used for tea.
There are also oblong fish dishes, saucers, salad bowls of various shapes, and teapots.
All Uzbek dishes are decorated both inside and outside.
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