Slab Pottery can allow you to make very clean lines. There are a few techniques you should know about before you start building your clay.
Wedge your Clay - Make sure it is homogenous in stiffness and has no air pockets. There are three methods to wedge your clay. 1. Cut and Slap Method. 2. Cylinder Wedging. 3. Cone Wedging.
Cut and Slap
This method can take practice to be able to do it without introducing air pockets, but it is useful for those who have muscle or joint problems. In the cut and slap method, a one to three pound lump of clay is cut in half, then slapped back together repeatedly.
Cylinder MethodCylinder wedging is probably the easiest of the kneading-like methods to learn. It is good for small amounts of clay, from under one pound to about three pounds. It gets its name due to the shape of the clay as it is worked, which is a cylinder laying on its side on the wedging surface.
Cone Wedging
Ten pounds of clay can be wedged at one time (or up to twenty pounds, if the person's wrists are strong). Cone wedging tends to be faster than cylinder wedging, once the basic skill has been learned. Many potters also like cone wedging because the cone shape the clay is left in is conducive to centering and throwing the clay on the wheel.
Never rush this type because when it is done, it won't look as good as it could. I showed steps on how to make boxes but something I think would be fun to make would be a bird house. Or a vase, but not a regular shaped vase. Maybe something in an odd shape or maybe an animal shape. I would love to make an candle holder in my ceramics class.
Here are some of the links I had found: http://www.jhpottery.com/tutorial/slab.html
Wedge your Clay - Make sure it is homogenous in stiffness and has no air pockets. There are three methods to wedge your clay. 1. Cut and Slap Method. 2. Cylinder Wedging. 3. Cone Wedging.
Cut and Slap
This method can take practice to be able to do it without introducing air pockets, but it is useful for those who have muscle or joint problems. In the cut and slap method, a one to three pound lump of clay is cut in half, then slapped back together repeatedly.
Cylinder MethodCylinder wedging is probably the easiest of the kneading-like methods to learn. It is good for small amounts of clay, from under one pound to about three pounds. It gets its name due to the shape of the clay as it is worked, which is a cylinder laying on its side on the wedging surface.
Cone Wedging
Ten pounds of clay can be wedged at one time (or up to twenty pounds, if the person's wrists are strong). Cone wedging tends to be faster than cylinder wedging, once the basic skill has been learned. Many potters also like cone wedging because the cone shape the clay is left in is conducive to centering and throwing the clay on the wheel.
Never rush this type because when it is done, it won't look as good as it could. I showed steps on how to make boxes but something I think would be fun to make would be a bird house. Or a vase, but not a regular shaped vase. Maybe something in an odd shape or maybe an animal shape. I would love to make an candle holder in my ceramics class.
Here are some of the links I had found: http://www.jhpottery.com/tutorial/slab.html
Steps to make a Drawer or a Box.
Step 1 - Spreading the Clay. Step 2 - Flipping the Clay. Step 3. Rolling the Clay. Step 4 - Cutting your Slabs. Step 5 - Let Clay get hard. Step 6 - Score and Scratch the Edges. Step 7 - Apply the Slip. Step 8 - Join the Pottery. Step 9 - Add coil to inside the seem. Step 10 - Smooth out Coil. Stepp 11 - Add Final touches.
Step 1 - Spreading the Clay. Step 2 - Flipping the Clay. Step 3. Rolling the Clay. Step 4 - Cutting your Slabs. Step 5 - Let Clay get hard. Step 6 - Score and Scratch the Edges. Step 7 - Apply the Slip. Step 8 - Join the Pottery. Step 9 - Add coil to inside the seem. Step 10 - Smooth out Coil. Stepp 11 - Add Final touches.
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