- 1). Ensure your clay pot is air-dried and leather hard before adding texture to it. Leather hard represents the drying stage when you can no longer mold your clay pot by hand. If your pot is too dry, you will only scratch the surface, not leaving any texture. Hold your air-dried pot against your cheek -- your pot will be ready for firing when it no longer feels cold.
- 2). Carve small shapes all the way through your leather-hard clay pot using a sharp knife, such as a utility knife or a craft knife. Carve one or more rows of shapes you desire around the top of your container, below the rim. Make freehand cuts, which add personality to your piece.
- 3). Use kitchen tools to make texture on your clay pots. For example, use a fork, a vegetable peeler or a kitchen tool with a grater edge on one end. For instance, run your grater tool vertically down your leather-hard clay pot to leave several small, vertical ridges.
- 4). Stand over a sink and take two or more different colors of wet acrylic paint and pour the paint onto your air-dried pot. Shake your pot back and forth. This creates drifts and a marbling effect. Draw across the paint using a regular straight pin in any way you choose to create an effect called "feathering marbling." This texture will remain after firing your pot.
- 5). Look for hard objects everywhere, such as sea shells, which you can press into your pot. Use any metal object and create designs by making repetitive impressions.
- 6). Make a coil pot for texture by rolling several pieces of clay back and forth on a canvas-covered surface. Keep rolling until you have long coils 1/2 to 1 inch in diameter. It does not matter if the coils have the same length. Make a base out of one of the coils by turning it into a spiral, then add one coil at a time, connecting each one to the one beneath it by smoothing the clay with your thumb on the inside only. Connect all of the coils securely, so they will not separate later as the pot dries. Let your pot air dry when finished. Your pot will be smooth inside with a coil texture on the outside.
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