NERIKOMI WITH BEN DAVIES | INTERMEDIATE — CWP (2024)

FAQs

What is the Nerikomi method? ›

There are almost infinite ways to create beautiful ceramic work, but one of the simplest ways to make interesting patterns is the Nerikomi method. Nerikomi—also known as neriage—was first created in Japan, and it involves stacking and cutting colored pieces of clay to form different patterns.

Neriage is the act of mixing at least two colored clay bodies together, which will create swirling and spiraling patterns when thrown on the wheel. Nerikomi works are hand built and then carved or faceted into to create a variation of patterns on the clay surface accenting the mixed clay bodies.

ABOUT NERIKOMI

Although Nerikomi is a Japanese term, it actually originated in Ancient Egypt as a marbling technique. Over time, it spread to Rome, England and China – reaching Japanese shores in about the mid 1400s. Today, the Japanese follow this technique religiously, but with little cause for innovation.

Nerikomi (often referred to as "neriage") is a decorative process established in Japan that involves stacking colored clay and then slicing through the cross section to reveal a pattern, which can then be used as an applied decoration.

What are the three methods of handbuilding? The three methods of handbuilding are pinching, coiling and slab building. Once you have experience with these three methods, you can make just about any object out of clay.

The Plastic Clay Stage (Also Known As Wet Clay)

Plastic clay is used by many potters as it is drier than slip but still wet enough to easily mold and shape into different forms. Once molded, it will keep its shape and so is perfect for ceramics of all purposes. It's a highly workable form of clay.

Neriage, or agateware, is done by laminating different colored clays together and throwing them on a wheel to develop a swirling and spiraling blend of the clays. Objects made this way can be left with the swirl pattern, or altered by various forms of cutting the surface, with fluting and faceting.

Nerikomi (練り込み, lit. 'kneading') is a Japanese pottery term describing the artistic technique where multiple colors of clay are marbled or combined to create various designs.

It is thought that crude pottery making in the Silesian region may have taken place as early as the 7th century. However, according to the Muzeum Ceramika (Museum of Ceramics) in Bolesławiec, Poland, the first historical record of a ceramic artist comes from the town of Swidnica's municipal books in the year 1380.

What is the oldest Mexican pottery? ›

History. The making of earthenware began to replace stone utensils in Mexico began around the Purrón period (2300–1500 BCE). Many of these first ceramics were gourd or squash shaped, a carry over from when these vegetables were used to carry liquids.

World-famous, the black clay of Oaxaca comes from one region and one region only: San Bartolo Coyotepec. The special properties of this clay cannot be found anywhere else.

Greatly valued, Old Kutani (ko- Kutani) porcelain is among the finest of the Japanese wares. The body is heavy, approaching stonewares, and the designs are executed boldly and in rich colours.

Odai Yamamoto I site in Aomori Prefecture currently has the oldest pottery in Japan. Excavations in 1998 uncovered forty-six earthenware fragments which have been dated as early as 14,500 BCE (ca 16,500 BP); this places them among the earliest pottery currently known. This appears to be plain, undecorated pottery.

It's called Kintsugi , or Kintsukuroi , literally golden (“kin”) and repair (“tsugi”). Kintsugi is the process of repairing ceramics traditionally with lacquer and gold, leaving a gold seam where the cracks were. The technique consists in joining fragments and giving them a new, more refined aspect.

Kaolin is extracted from the ground by surface working (open cast method). It is tradtionally liberated from its host rock by powerful water jets (monitors) and the resultant slurry undergoes settlement and separation to remove the quartz, mica and unaltered feldspar.

Simply put, kurinuki is a Japanese term referring to the handbuilding technique of starting with a solid block of clay and hollowing it out to create an interior.

Kintsugi roughly translates as 'joining with gold' (kin is 'gold' and tsugi is 'join'). It is a centuries-old Japanese repair technique which uses urushi (Japanese lacquer) dusted with powdered gold to restore broken ceramic and porcelain vessels.

There are two methods of burnishing clay: rubbing the clay with a polished stone or other smooth object, and coating the pot with terra sigillata (check out this article about troubleshooting terra sigillata!) and rubbing it with a soft material such as a chamois leather.