Terracotta is an art form of making various objects using clay. The unglazed clay is baked to manufacture hard solid earthenware items. Terracotta has been used for making different items from centuries.

Instead, the first few sculptures discovered from the erstwhile era, were made of terracotta. The history of terracotta can be tracked back from Indus Valley civilization, where archeologists dug out traces of ancient terracotta sculptures.

The word ‘terra’ is a Latin word, which means mud, and is even recognized as ‘baked earth’. Terracotta products as compared to metal products are more preferable. These are low in cost, employ simpler methods of molding, lightweight and offer reusable molding option.

 
The process of producing terracotta items includes soaking the mud for a few days. Then this mud is shaped as per requisite, and is left for drying. Then these products are baked under pit fire. The natural color of terracotta is brownish.

The baking of these products is done at a place, called kiln. Kiln is a thermal insulating chamber, which is used to harden and dry the mud products. After burning these products in pit fire, these are left beneath sand to cool.

Few products such as waste water pipes, vessels, and the Terracotta Army is well-known. The terracotta products play a vital role for embellishing architectural structures. The products such as tiles, blocks, and bricks are ideal for architecture.

These days, you can find a number of products made using this art form, such as toys, lamps, flowerpots, statues, wall hangings and various other items, which can easily found at many places, within the city. Very attractive decoratives are being made, using this art form.