Build a Coil Pot (Taller Vessels)

Summary

Pinching limits a pot to what one ball of clay and two thumbs can stretch. Coil building removes that limit: you roll ropes of clay and stack them on a base, joining each layer firmly, and can build storage jars, cooking pots, and water vessels as tall as your patience holds. Everything about drying and firing carries over from the pinch pot — only the forming changes.

Terms used in this article

• Coil — a rope of clay rolled out under your palms, about finger-thick.
• Scoring — scratching cross-hatched marks into the two clay surfaces being joined, so they grip.
• Slip — clay mixed with water to a cream; used like glue on scored joints.
• Leather-hard / bone dry / open firing / spall — drying and firing words, explained in Fire a Clay Pinch Pot (First Pottery).

Prerequisites

• Prepared, tempered clay: Find and Prepare Clay
• Pinching, drying, and firing basics: Fire a Clay Pinch Pot (First Pottery)

Materials

• Prepared clay with sand temper — several fist-sized balls for a modest jar
• Water in a small container (a fired pinch pot works) for slip
• A flat working surface: smooth stone, board, or large bark slab
• A smooth pebble and a small flat stick for blending and scraping

Steps

1) Make the base

1. Pinch a shallow bowl from one ball of clay (Fire a Clay Pinch Pot, step 1) — this is the pot's bottom.
2. Set it on the work surface on a sprinkle of dry sand so it can turn without sticking.

2) Roll coils

1. Roll a ball of clay under both palms on the work surface, moving outward from the middle, until you have an even rope about finger-thick and as long as comfortable.
2. Keep coils covered with a damp leaf or bark while you work; dry coils will not join.

3) Join each coil

1. Score the rim of the base (cross-hatch scratches with a stick or thorn) and wet it with slip.
2. Press the coil onto the scored rim, working around; cut the coil's end on a diagonal and blend the overlap.
3. Blend the coil into the wall: drag clay from the coil down over the joint inside and out with a fingertip or the flat stick, until the seam disappears.

A visible seam is a future crack — blend every joint fully on both sides.

4) Build, with patience

1. Add 2 or 3 coils, blending each, then stop and let the wall stiffen toward leather-hard (an hour or more in dry air) before adding more — soft walls slump under new weight.
2. Place coils slightly inward to close the shape, slightly outward to widen it.
3. Keep walls an even finger-thickness; scrape thick spots down with the stick.

5) Rim, smooth, dry, fire

1. Finish the top with one well-blended coil and smooth the rim with a wet fingertip.
2. Smooth the whole pot with the pebble; for water vessels, burnish (rub glossy-smooth) inside and out at leather-hard.
3. Dry and fire exactly as for the pinch pot — but bigger pots need longer everywhere: more days drying, slower warm-up, longer at full fire, slower cooling.

Verification

• Wall thickness feels even (pinch gently at several heights); no seams visible inside or out.
• The bone-dry pot shows no cracks at coil lines.
• After firing it rings when tapped, and a snapped test coil (fired alongside) shows color change through its full thickness.

Safety

• Same as pinch-pot firing: bone dry before firing, gradual warm-up, stand back from possible spalls, cool slowly, handle with tongs (Make Green-Wood Tongs).
• Large pots hold more steam: be even more patient with drying than for small pieces.

Troubleshooting

• Cracks along coil lines after drying or firing: joints were not scored/slipped or not blended through; score deeper, use slip every time, blend until invisible.
• Pot slumps or leans while building: walls too wet or built too fast; pause longer between coil batches and work in cooler hours.
• Coils crack while rolling: clay too dry or too lean; knead in water, or blend in fattier clay.
• Base cracks in a ring: base was drier than the first coils; keep the base covered and damp until the wall is on.

Variants

• Thick-coil quick build: wrist-thick coils, blended roughly, make sturdy grain-storage jars fast (heavier, less even).
• Neck and shoulder: step coils inward over the top third to form a shouldered jar — easier to cover, better for storage.
• Lid: a shallow pinch bowl made to sit in the rim; cut a notch for a stick handle before drying.