Gert’s piggy bank pages

Save the piggy banks, don’t smash them!

Two halves of the mould banded together and the slip-clay is poured in.

production

Most frequently used is moulding. Inside the mould is the ‘negative’ image of the piggy bank. Slip clay is poured into the mould, water is soaked up in the absorbent mould. All is left to dry for a small period and then the rest of the slip clay is purred out again. What remains, as the mould is split is a piggy bank that has to dry further and be fired in the oven. When fired it’s called ‘biscuit’.

Using modelling clay one can push the soft clay in a kind of half mould. The ‘negative image’ of the piggy bank in this mould is ‘rougher’ than in the mould for slip clay. The two halves of the piggy bank are put together and stored to dry.

The third method is modelling a piggy bank like a pot on a potters wheel. The fourth way is ‘free modelling’, an artistic method. The results are fantastic, but very few potters do it this way.

e-mail: gd@piggybanks.nl                        © 2010 GD projecten

Ways of producing

 

Top

Left: Made as a pot on a potters wheel. Terra cotta (Florence, Italy).

Right: As two halves put together (very common mould/ piggybank).

 

Below

Left: A nice example of potters craftsmanship. (Potdorie, Holland)

Right: Example of the most used method: the mould. (Germany).

Most piggy banks are made of earthenware. A certain category is made of stoneware (particularly in the UK). Few piggy banks are made of porcelain; they are expensive.

Stoneware (UK)