YEAR EIGHT VISUAL ARTS
CERAMICS
Slab Pots
Slab pots are built from slabs of rolled clay. The slab technique is ideal for
making flat fronted and geometric pots.
How to make a slab pot:
1. Use a rolling pin and two guides to roll the clay to about finger thickness
(approximately 1cm. thick).
2. Cut out your pot shape using the template you designed earlier. Repeat
with your other template to make the other side of the pot.
3. Roll another slab and cut the base and sides of the pot. Make sure the
sides are about as wide as your fist so that you will be able to get your
hand into the pot to join all the parts.
4. Join all the sides by scoring (scratching) the two surfaces to be joined.
Add a little slurry (also known as slip or runny clay).
Roll very thin coils to reinforce the inside corners of your pot. Smooth the clay
until you can’t see the joins. Your fingerprints are rough enough to do an
excellent smoothing job. Do not cover the surface of the pot with slurry as it
dries powdery and glazes will not be able to stick properly.
5. Incise (cut in) the details of the pot using a sharp pointy tool.
6. Wet clay should not be joined to dry clay because they shrink at different
rates as they dry. A pot can shrink about 20% through drying and firing.
Keep your pot damp by wrapping it in plastic until construction is
completed. Label your wrapped pot clearly with your name.
When your pot is finished leave it unwrapped so that it will dry to leather
hard (called greenware).
7. When your pot is leather hard it is bisque (biscuit) fired in the kiln. This
drives out the excess moisture and makes it a much stronger pot. The kiln
is a large specialist oven that can heat up to about 1200 degrees
centigrade.
8. Colour is added to the bisque fired pot using underglaze.
9. The pot is sealed with clear glaze (which goes on white but fires clear).
Then the pot is put in the kiln for a glaze firing. The final surface will be
shiny, hard and waterproof.