Hand Building Pottery with Slabs of Clay and Kid Art
I use a banding wheel to construct my slab built pottery
Today’s post is down and dirty – lots of pictures, little text. Why? I’m working away in the studio and my in-laws are visiting which makes finding time for online activity a difficult. I’m still hand building work and thought I’d show you my set up. I tend to work on 4-6 mugs at a time now because it’s more efficient and it allows the clay to rest a bit while I go through the assembly line.
My tools are pretty basic. I use a drywall board, banding wheel, X-acto knife, sponge, water, paper clay slip, scoring tool, wooden kitchen spoons (both ends), mini Kemper extruder for coils that I force into the joints, along with beverage at the ready and music or favorite podcasts. What you don’t see is my wheel that is acting as the base of my work table. That’s going to change today though since I feel like throwing a bit.
Fat bottomed mug
A prerequisite for any mug that I buy nowadays is that it has to have at least a 10 oz.+ capacity and a very stable wide bottom, capable of sitting on the arm rest of my sofa without spilling because this is my favorite place to drink the first cup of coffee of the morning while I wake up. Most likely, you’ll find me answering emails, blogging and otherwise engaging in online activities in this very same spot. Sometimes I even read the newspaper, but I’m currently taking a news sabbatical for a bit for my mental sanity.
Bottom
I’ve also been playing around with making the bottom of my work as interesting as the visible portion of a piece.
Same linocut – different shape
Bottom
Linocut used to print my mugs
Kid's Mugs 2nd – 5th grade
I really love teaching kids – they’re a lot of fun and very high energy. We recently made “soup can” mugs for a project. They’re a way for the kids to make something functional just for themselves, though, some of the kids were also making presents for their parents.
Pinch pot covered jars
Here’s a recent project – everyone went with a Halloween theme. They will be glaze fired tomorrow or Sunday and I can’t wait to see how they turn out.
Gotta run, have a great weekend!
~Cynthia
Linda Starr
October 17, 2008 at 6:20 pm //
I swear, Cynthia, we must be on the same wave length lately. I just posted yesterday about my assembly line of hand built tumblers. Mine aren’t half as pretty as your flat bottomed mugs which, by the way, are beautiful, love the texture. I am still trying to work out how to minimize the seams of my handbuilt pieces and still keep the texture visible. It also looks like your bottoms are on the inside of the sides and mine are even with the sides. I keep telling myself to make my pieces with sides over the bottom or by bringing the bottom up over the sides. Each each time I forget and I revert to constructing my usual way. I did find I was much more productive with an assembly line process and am going to stick with that for the future.
Have a good weekend.
Undaunted
October 18, 2008 at 1:30 am //
I don’t think I can cope with the excitement anymore! Everywhere I look I see beautiful clay pieces! These are so lovely Cynthia.
It’s interesting to see how you construct them. It looks like you let the clay harden a little first? In my clay class we used the clay wet, and so we needed to roll the clay around a tube to support it – like the soup can mugs I suppose.
I remember you mentioning the soup can mugs before, so it’s great to see how they turned out. Your students are very lucky – they have a great tutor!
Ah, so they’re called “pinch pots”? (I didn’t know what they were called when I made one) They look great too!
ang
October 18, 2008 at 3:18 am //
hey cynthia, lovely mugs, i do like your detail and texture so much that you inspired me to break out my flat plaster molds from college that have some carving texture last wkd, i did a few tiles that i’ll add some drawing to, show you later…..so thanks for the inspiration..
Undaunted
October 18, 2008 at 3:30 am //
Cynthia, am I right in thinking that the drywall board is ordinary plaster board? I’ve wanted to ask you for a while what you roll your clay out on to. Clay just seems to stick to everything so at the classes we roll it out on to hessian, but then of course the pattern is left on the clay. Your clay always looks so lovely and smooth.
Also, I remember you saying (quite a long time ago) that you poured some clay out on to a particular surface to let it dry a little, ready for wedging. What surface was that? I would ask my class tutor but… he doesn’t explain things very well!
I hope you don’t mind me asking all these things!
Ben Stark
October 18, 2008 at 6:37 am //
Great looking mugs Cynthia! The textured bottom adds a lot to the pieces. Kinda like a nice little surprise when you turn it over
Cynthia
October 18, 2008 at 8:37 am //
Linda S. – I really love hand building. I bevel cut my slabs with the X-Acto knife using my template and I also bevel the bottoms which gives it a more seamless quality. I think the other way too work with slabs is to exploit the slab – in other words, don’t try to hide the seams. Let it be. I guess it just depends on how you want it to look.
Linda U. – No, I use really soft wet slabs to make my pieces, otherwise they’d crack where heavily textured. The only time I let them set up is the add the handles and to clean up the rims – they’re almost leather hard by the time I clean the rims. Yes, the “soup can” mugs are basically empty food cans that serve as the form for a piece. I have the kids wrap paper around the cans so that the cups can easily be removed. I love how excited my kids are about clay class! Next Tuesday is our last class for the session and many can’t wait for the next one to begin.
Also – yes, the drywall board is probably plaster board – used in the construction industry for interior walls. I roll my slabs on canvas that I’ve stapled to one of my work surfaces, which does leave an imprint. I use a rubber rib to smooth the texture away on one side and then transfer the slab to the drywall board and do the same to the other side.
I use a a plaster surface to dry clay that’s too wet. I constructed a wood form and then poured the paster in there. Once it has hardened and dried, it’s a great surface. The plaster sucks the water out of the clay, similar to drywall board.
Ang – I’d love to see those tiles and textured plaster slabs of yours!
Ben – Thanks and a surprise is what I’m aiming for!
Undaunted
October 18, 2008 at 10:52 am //
Thank you so much Cynthia!
Linda Starr
October 18, 2008 at 11:43 am //
Hi Cynthia, I came back for a second look at your beautiful textured mugs. I was thinking I really like the texture on the bottom and wondering if I could use this texture technique on some of my flat bottomed casseroles and platters to help minimize warping. I am kind of thinking of using the type of surface that is used on the bottom of tiles to make the grouting surface better. Oh boy, I am so glad I came back to look – I think I have a great idea for the bottoms of my casseroles and platters.
I am wondering whether you think your mugs might teeter a bit with the textured bottom once they are glazed and fired or is the bottom a little concave to prevent them from teetering? Or is that not a probem? Not sure if I am explaining myself well.
Anyway your mugs are great.
Anne W
October 18, 2008 at 11:13 pm //
Can’t wait to see your mugs and butter dish fired cynthia
You’ve really flying with these new constructed vessels!
So Is your wheel sitting fallow these days?
patricia griffin
October 19, 2008 at 4:02 am //
Love the bottom detail on the mugs!
Cynthia
October 19, 2008 at 6:44 am //
Linda U
Linda S. – check out this post for a double sided textured platter. I don’t have a photo of the reverse, but it’s textured on the bottom as well. I think the key to preventing cracking and warping is that when I roll out my slabs, I really pound the clay with a mallet first, and then I roll the slab from all directions, flipping it over, changing directions. I also run my favorite rubber rib over the slabs. Not only does that action smooth the canvas marks away, but it also compresses the clay and makes it stronger. For platters, I put weights on the flat part and dry verrrryyyyyyy slowwwwwllly. Same thing with the mugs – while they’re drying, I place a board on the top of them (after they’ve set up a bit) which weights them down and helps to prevent excessive warping. I also flip them over and let them dry rim side down and also weight them with a board during drying.
Anne – Thanks, but it doesn’t feel like I’m flying – I can’t figure out if it takes longer for me to hand build, or throw. I make a hand built mug in one sitting, which eliminates trimming and adding a handle at a later time, but the construction does take a bit longer than throwing.
Patricia –
Janet
October 19, 2008 at 4:31 pm //
I think the idea of putting a design on the bottom of the mug is a cool idea. If you have to leave a watermark on a table somewhere, it might as well be memorable!
jim
October 19, 2008 at 7:07 pm //
Cynthia, love the mugs and the dream tray on the front page of your website is fantastic!
Nancy
October 20, 2008 at 7:21 am //
Your textured mugs are beautiful .. I really love the fat bottom mug. Maybe because it reminds me of myself,*wink. The texture on the mugs definately makes it unique. And, having it on the bottom is a great touch. It looks like it would be pretty time consuming. I’m thinking the handle on these mugs are not easy either. Beautiful Cynthia!
Cynthia
October 20, 2008 at 7:25 am //
Janet – that would be cool…do hot beverages leave water marks?
Thank Jim!
Nancy –
very funny! I’m getting faster and more efficient as I make these….
andrea
October 20, 2008 at 9:14 am //
I prefer fat-bottomed mugs, too. This one — with its great bottom — would be ideal!
ang
October 20, 2008 at 3:43 pm //
i’ll be back on the ball this week and take some shots of the plaster pieces i use some will be familiar shapes, the ones everyone thinks no-one has thought of before….
Janet
October 20, 2008 at 9:27 pm //
Probably if you are actively drinking from the mug — ie, I use coasters for my coffee — I can be sloppy.