How To Make a Coil Pot (the Easy Way)

Learn all you need to know to make beautiful pots using the ancient coil method, this is a full tutorial on coil pot making. Learn the 3 steps to coil building with clay AND the 3 critical pinches to forming coil pottery. If you are learning coil pottery this is the video to watch.
❤️ Please help support my channel
Channel membership / ancientpottery
Ancient Potters Club ancientpottery.how/ancient-po...
👕 T shirts and other merch - andy-wards-ancient-pottery.cr...
🛍 Shop for pottery related goodies
Classes, tools and pottery are available at my online store: ancientpottery.how/shop/
📚 Improve your pottery skills
Check out my in-person pottery workshops and online masterclasses to improve your pottery making skills. ancientpottery.how/classes/
⭐️ Social media
Facebook - / andywardpottery
Instagram - / ancientpottery
📬 Send me mail
Andy Ward PO Box 43601 Tucson, AZ 85733
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

[@AncientPottery]

Something a little different from my usual today, more of a tutorial or class. I have a whole playlist of coil pottery building videos of you want more of that kzbin.info/www/bejne/eZ7FY4l7lrx_hac

[@bondpaz]

I don’t have a gourd scraper. Is there a substitute I can use? Thanks Andy?

[@reginacarroll8149]

Tedious? I find it fascinating! Those big pots are super expensive at the stores. Your demonstrations are priceless! Thank you for the tutorial!

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks, glad you got something out of it.

[@_______-------]

I found this really helpful thanks for the tutorial!

[@juliawigley8600]

I never enjoyed coiling pots, but after watching nearly all your videos I am addicted. Thankyou for showing me.😌

[@AncientPottery]

LOL, glad I could change your mind about coiling.

[@airstreamwanderings3683]

Nice and clear. Anyone who watches your videos will have all the information they need to make primitive pottery.

[@AncientPottery]

Thank you, that is the goal.

[@blancawyatt3092]

3 easy steps and pinches I got it. I'm making mine with mica clay from new Mexico thank you for the wonderful tutorial

[@AncientPottery]

Awesome, that should be great.

[@HybridParentSupport]

“Does your wheel thrown pottery make you want to throw up?” 😂😂😂😂😂 OMFG

[@AdventureIndiana]

Well, I bought some clay and I am going to try to make a bowl, then fire it in my back yard. I have been watching your videos. Long term goal is to dig my own clay like you can make a pot. The clay will come from land that has been in our family since civil war. That would be a pretty cool conversation piece. Unfortunately I won’t have time for another week or two to get started, but that is ok. Thank you for posting these videos

[@AncientPottery]

That's awesome, I hope it works out for you.

[@cindydouglass7631]

"I'm a little disappointed on your performance of this (pop quiz)..." Rolling on the floor laughing. That was so funny!

[@blancawyatt3092]

I think is the perfect size for a bean pot is so pretty.

[@AncientPottery]

True, it would be good for beans.

[@jackiegrant410]

I love the coil method, thank you for sharing your knowledge, very useful and absolutely beautiful. 🤗

[@AncientPottery]

You are welcome, thanks for watching.

[@cysewskiscustomchippin9691]

This is amazing Andy ! I’ll definitely be revisiting this video quite a lot haha.

[@AncientPottery]

Thank you, glad to be helpful

[@Natasha-ft3es]

Thank you Andy. Please make more videos.

[@AncientPottery]

Thank you, working on the next video today.

[@bcarithers22]

I just discovered your channel, and I love it! I worked in clay for years doing hand building. This was about 1977- 1983. I first worked in the clay studio at the Royal Oak Campus of Oakland Community College in Michigan. It became a large studio of functional potters, who basically used it and audited classes to get the studio space and sell in their huge Christmas Show. Since I loved doing Raku, I went out to the Orchard Ridge Campus to work with Robert Piepenburg, who authored a book on Raku. Loved it! I hand built sculptures based on ancient stone tools and neolithic monuments. Long story short, I had a family and did all the Mom things. I changed to watercolor painting because it was more child friendly. Finding your channel makes me realize how much I miss working in clay. So I’m gonna break out the clay and have some fun building some pots and other things. I’m gonna show your video to my grandchildren and have some fun with them. Andy, you are an excellent teacher! I am so enjoying your videos! Thanks so very much! Barbara Cordell Catithers

[@AncientPottery]

Great, thanks for watching.

[@troyedwards8100]

Great video fella, thank you.

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks, glad you liked it.

[@ThinkAboutIt-2x]

Thank You this was fun video.

[@AncientPottery]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@freddiemoretti8456]

Enjoyed this video. Cheers...Freddie

[@AncientPottery]

Glad to hear it, thanks Freddie.

[@bje2920]

Nice work I like this kind of video

[@AncientPottery]

Thank you very much!

[@bje2920]

@@AncientPottery your welcome

[@andrewdunton6304]

You are so frickin cool. Man I wish i was potters apprentice.

[@AncientPottery]

Thank. if you were my apprentice you would probably be doing more video editing than pottery.

[@andrewdunton6304]

@@AncientPottery lol hey my name is jimmie ill take what ever you can gimme.

[@AncientPottery]

@@andrewdunton6304 "Jimmy", I thought you were Andrew. So confused!

[@andrewdunton6304]

@@AncientPottery oh its a joke of saying down here in the south. But yessir my name is in fact Andrew.

[@maralfniqle5092]

Fantastic way of teaching, so good to watch. Thanks!

[@AncientPottery]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@michellemooney1460]

Great Video! U r my wild clay hero Andy! I have learned so much from u and look forward to all of ur videos.

[@AncientPottery]

I appreciate that very much. Thanks for watching.

[@dustinlamberta8009]

This is a video I’ve been waiting for! Back to the basics. Simple but not seeming to gloss over anything

[@AncientPottery]

So glad to hear that you found it useful.

[@docenciaeinvestigacionhzco7238]

Hola buen dia! realmente tu canal saco todas mis dudas sobre la tierra, y sigo todos tus videos soy de caleta olivia, provincia de santa cruz, Argentina. gracias. Hello good morning! Your channel really removes all my doubts about the earth, and I follow all your videos. I am from Caleta Olivia, province of Santa Cruz, Argentina. thank you.

[@AncientPottery]

Thank you, I am glad you are enjoying my videos from Argentina.

[@llanitedave]

Nice to see you do a flat bottom pot. I know you don't see many of them in archeology, but they do seem to turn up from time to time.

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks Dave. This one is not so much archaeological as just easy for someone to do at home. Next week we will dive into a bit more archaeology.

[@pedroclaro7822]

Absolutely wonderful. I've read this is basically the oldest method, and for good reason. No need for fancy equipment or anything like that

[@pedroclaro7822]

I want to make large fermentation pots, which come in at exorbitant prices. Now i can make mine out of dirt, a sift and water!

[@AncientPottery]

Yes, thank you

[@Adriaanthecrafter]

Thanks for this tutorial I usually only made pinch pots because I couldn't really make coil pots. but after a bit of practice I can make coil pots much better than pinch pots. The nice thing about coil pots is that you can have a larger variety of pots you can make other than pinch pots

[@AncientPottery]

You can make almost anything with coils. I know people who make sculptures of people and they use coils to build the hollow form

[@clayeasy]

Nice video! Great tutorial! Thanks Andy!

[@AncientPottery]

My pleasure! Glad you liked it.

[@yeshuas5172]

Good idea with the quizes; with help us retain the info. Also, good idea with the playlist! You go Andy! I'll keep watchin' :)

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks, I will.

[@anthonyfeatherstone7696]

First video of yours I saw. Really enjoy the chanel. Something I've always wanted to get into at an amateur level

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks and welcome. You should give it a try, I try to make it accessible and easy to get started.

[@augustawallace3422]

Didn't see th link so i could do pottery with u on Wed. would love to

[@AncientPottery]

Here it is. ancientpottery.how/ancient-potters-club/

[@cjgaming5544]

I was looking for this type of video

[@AncientPottery]

Great

[@mihailvormittag6211]

👍

[@marciacunningham5877]

Nice video! Michael

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks!

[@user-zr8fn8zw2j]

спасибо

[@GrannyGooseOnYouTube]

Andy, all your videos are awesome, but this one stands out. Your demo camera work was so easy to see...could really see what was happening with the shape of your pot wall...Your jokes about "note taking" gave me a great laugh...I don't know, this video just really glows. Thank you so much!

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks a lot! So glad that these videos are useful to people. Have a great day.

[@jselwell]

Beginner's question, will a pot such as the one made in this video do well with typical firing in an electric kiln?

[@AncientPottery]

Sure

[@gailschaeffer323]

please show us how youlay our patterns on your bowls thank you

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks, I am planning on making a video of that soon.

[@Fire_And_Iron]

How long does it usually take for your pots to get bone dry in your environment?

[@AncientPottery]

Here in Tucson it is usually quite dry. Pots could dry out in one day if you just left them out, the challenge becomes helping them to dry slowly so they don't crack.

[@maestasify]

Compress, compress, compress and score from the start.

[@katerinavaco2913]

instead of a knife you can use sandpaper ,if you let it dry a bit

[@AncientPottery]

There are a million ways to skin a cat

[@pizzatopia]

thanks for your vids andy! and i wanted to build an oil lamp today, so i dragged out some clay that had been sitting in my cabinet for a couple months (i'm a beginner, running a pizza shop so time is limited), and i found my clay was too dry. the coils i rolled cracked when bending them, so i added water, kneaded, added water, kneaded, but the clay just seemed to get worse and worse, even more cracks than before. so it's sitting wrapped up in plastic in a lidded bucket, i'll take it out tomorrow, and see if the consistency has improved. Do you have ANY ADVICE for knowing how much water is needed in the clay for this type of coil building. My clay is bought from a local studio ( i live in Taiwan, and my chinese knowledge of ceramics is zilch, but it's a dull gray clay, and i've fired it up before to 1220C and glazed with woodash glaze with good results), so i don't know exactly what it is. thank you again, i love your vids.

[@AncientPottery]

Your clay sounds like it is lacking in plasticity. You can mix in some more plastic clay or try purifying your clay.

[@pizzatopia]

@@AncientPottery i appreciate you replies, always helpful! Thanks!

[@Shinchainmagicpokestar]

At the last part use to oil?

[@kaglaw]

How many ounces of clay would you guess you used to make this pot?

[@AncientPottery]

Oh man, I never measure my clay so I would have no way of guessing. Sorry

[@markthomsalot]

How thick is to thick total wall thickness At 25% to 30% sand

[@AncientPottery]

Good question. I'm not sure there is such a thing as "too thick". The thing is, the thicker you make your walls the more clay you will use, the heavier the pot will become, and the more careful you have to be to preheat it. When I was at the SW Kiln Conference last year some people were rejecting pots from their kiln as "too thick" and I was welcoming them saying that there was no such thing as too thick. Just be careful to preheat very well to make sure there is no moisture in those thick walls. I usually shoot for about a quester of an inch in thickness but that is dependent on the skills of the potter and the quality of the clay.

[@user-zr8fn8zw2j]

ваши ролики можно смотреть только по запросу на английском языке а на русском вас в поиске нет ....спасибо все понятно и интересно

[@---pm8jd]

Тоже смотрю его, заодно английский подтягиваю)

[@AncientPottery]

Извиняюсь. Я не уверен, что могу что-то с этим сделать, кроме как нанять переводчика.

[@annesummers09]

The temps get really high when you burn wood in a rocket stove. Wouldn't it be possible to fire your clay in that? Thanks.

[@AncientPottery]

I've never tried it but I do have a simple brick kiln that is similar in some ways, you can see it here kzbin.info/www/bejne/qmecY6pql96JqNk

[@christopherconaway3549]

Andy. im fairly certain ive read something that claims the native Iroquois made their pots by building the clay around dried gourds and then burning the gourd out leaving the clay behind in the shape if the gourd. do you have any idea how they could have prevented cracking and shrinkage in that process?

[@AncientPottery]

This is hard to believe. Clay shrinks when it dries and any pot formed around a solid object like a gourd would tear itself apart as it dries. Probably just speculation from someone who had never tried it.

[@christopherconaway3549]

@@AncientPottery that is a good point. i need to see if i can find anything on that topic to read about. then ill know more clearly

[@airstreamwanderings3683]

I suppose you could smear clay on the inside of a gourd or basket but it wouldn't be smooth or even.

[@christopherconaway3549]

@@airstreamwanderings3683 that could be. honestly i read about this years ago in school, so most likely the text was either dumbed down for kids, or im just remembering incorrectly. ill need to look into it again

[@hogmazek]

wrow I have the same grey bowl

[@AncientPottery]

Interesting.

[@ariannamarie7778]

Do you think a beginner can successfully make a small pot using your method , in an hour?

[@AncientPottery]

A beginner can successfully make a pot using my method, which is of course the point of this video. But in an hour, I'm not sure. If you are a beginner don't put time constraints on yourself, take your time, learn and do a good job.

[@Collin905]

Every time I make a coil and try to bend it, it breaks. Does this mean I have bad clay for pottery ?

[@AncientPottery]

Yes, your clay is lacking in plasticity

[@jspyrogram]

What clay are you using?

[@AncientPottery]

It's wild clay that I dug and processed myself, but you can use commercial clay if you want. See this video where I use and compare various commercial clays kzbin.info/www/bejne/pGLdqIenodpnfas

[@jspyrogram]

@@AncientPottery thank you!

[@nizarahdragon3973]

Would one of your pots hold water At this time I have a coffee can holding my water filter I wish I add a photo

[@AncientPottery]

Sure they hold water, that is one of the main things that the ancients used their pottery for. It will weep a little but there are also things you can do to seal your pottery. You might enjoy this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/iYnbeWybhrVrn5o

[@nizarahdragon3973]

I have watched that video

[@koeuee]

Try making a person out of clay it works

[@makaylakhanoba5251]

POP QUIZ?

[@caseymcclellan4700]

Fresh haircut