Soft Slab Construction

For this project, we had to learn to make slabs by using a press and make things like mugs, cups, vases, plates, etc. out of the slabs. I ended up making a vase, a mug, a cup (no handle), and a large platter/plate. I did not get the chance to make another plate though. I started off with a vase. I took a fairly large slab of red clay and flattened it down enough and cleaned up the shape so it could fit through the press. I chose to make my slab the thinnest possible, as for my mugs and platter, I chose a medium thickness that was not quite as thin. I rolled the clay in a bottle, added the bottom by scratching it up with a metal rib and using water to attach the two. I made the bottom a little too big, but instead of cutting it down, I liked the way that it flared out a little bit so I kept it. Then I removed the bottle, smoothed it, and let it dry. I wanted to carve a design or a print in it, but it dried much quicker than I thought it would so I did not get the chance. I chose to glaze it PC-59 (deep firebrick).

Next, I was going to make I mug, so I did the same thing, but this time around I chose to make the slab a little bit thicker than I had before to possible make it more sturdy and also I used a wider bottle and made the cup much shorter than I had made my vase. I added a bottom and started to smooth things out, but the class ended before I added a handle, and I did not wrap it well enough, so a week later it was bone dry and I could not add a handle, so it is just a cup. This cup is one of the things I have no glazed yet.

I still wanted to make a mug, but this time I decided to make a cone-shaped mug. First, I rolled out the clay and put it through the press, so it was medium thick. Then I used one of the templates and cut out off the excess clay and it was sort of the shape of an arch. Next, angled the sides so they would line up and then used the serrated metal rib to mark up these angled edges and attached them to each other using some slip/water. I attached the bottom and then used the serrated rib to make the seams less noticeable, before starting to smooth it. Then, I started to make my handle by pulling the clay. I rolled out a piece of clay, and then went to the sink and began to use water and started to pull on the clay until the handle was the right length and thickness. I struggled with pulling at first and it took me a few tries before I finally got the right length and thickness for the handle. I shaped the handle the way I wanted it and then let it sit for a few minutes so its shape solidified a bit. Then I cut the ends at an angle so it would attach easier, and I scratched the cup where the handle was going and the edge of the handle and used some slip/water to attach it. This is another thing I have not glazed yet.

Finally, I decided I wanted to make a platter. I chose one of the molds that are on the bigger size because I knew I wanted a big platter. I rolled out a big chunk of clay and then put it through the press so it was fairly thick because I did not want my plate to be too delicate because I did not want it to break. Next, I put a t-shirt scrap over the mold then draped the clay slab over the mold and hit the mold against the table a few times for the clay slab to form a curve. After, I decided that I wanted to do something like spikes/zig-zags for the edge of the plate. I let it sit in the mold for the week then I took it out the next class. I softened the edges a little bit because I did not want them to break off easily and smoothed things out for the final time. After it was fired, I used the glaze PC-2 (Gold). My favorite piece that I made in this unit was definitely my plate. It was the easiest to make and the one that turned out the way I wanted it to and wasn't lopsided.