Soft Slab Formative

This soft slab formative was our first take on using soft slab construction and I'm happy with how it turned out in the end. We started with having to learn how to assemble the piece itself, as well as deciding what design to use, whether to overlap or not, or add a handle or not. I like that this technique leaves a lot up to you to decide and I like that the directions were vague so we could more or less choose most of what we wanted our pieces to look like. Because we all used tennis ball containers as a mold for our mugs or cups, they stayed all around the same width, but the height varied which made some look a bit different.

Going into this piece I had no plan really or any expectations, which I felt sort of made it more fun and interesting. I started with just the basic slab and decided to add my design before shaping it around the container, and I chose to use the circle stencil to make my pattern. I pressed it down on one side and then using the smooth side I wrapped it around the container and chose to leave an overlap because it looked cool with my design. I attached the two end of the slab and then went on to make a bottom for the piece that was the same width so it would be the same all around it. Finally, I chose to make a handle as well, which turned out to be my favorite handle of all soft slab pieces I've done. I gave it a bit of a curl and attached the side instead the top and bottom of the handle, which made it more sturdy and better looking, and I also added a small circle at the bottom of it to go with the circle theme. I also knew that I wanted to give it as a gift for Christmas so I chose a pretty blue glaze that I felt anyone who I chose to give it to would enjoy it. I ended up giving it to my grandmother and I've since heard from her that she uses it every day and loves it, which makes the whole project completely worth it.