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Epic Fail Making Slabs


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It sounds so easy. Roll a sheet of clay and make a thing.

 

Well, obviously I was missing something. I was using our recycled clay that I wedged for a solid 5 minutes, and first formed it into a somewhat even log. Then I took a heavy rolling pin to flatten it on some newspaper. Bad idea - it stuck. Not discouraged, I peeled the sticky remains off the soggy paper, re-wedged, it and tried rolling it on the linoleum table tops. Bad idea - it stuck. Thinking it must be too wet, I let sit for 10 minutes, wedged another 5 minutes on the plaster wedging table and decided to use our slab rolling table. I rolled out a nice slab, and moved it to a wooden bat to begin cutting it. As soon as I used the needle tool to cut, it began to crumble and crack. When I went to lift the clay up off of the bat after cutting.... you guessed it. It stuck. Not only was the clay acting too wet, and dry and crumbly at the same time, I had lost all interest in making slab work any time soon.

 

I later read that you have to wait until the slab is leather hard to begin working with it. Duh. :rolleyes:  Sometimes error trial and error is the only way my stubborn mind works. Simple things are easy to miss.

 

 

 

I still really want to try making some slab projects, as I have a cool idea in mind for a fish-serving platter and some butter dishes...

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There are two ways to work with slabs- wet or leather hard. It depends on what you're making. Either way, your clay has to be wet enough to roll the slabs and cut them. The fact that they were sticking has little do with the moisture level of your clay, but everything to do with the material you were rolling it on. Anything that is very smooth and non-porous- formica, glass, plastic, etc- is likely to have sticking issues, but the rolling process it will stick to just about anything. Like DM said, the best thing to use is canvas, which can easily be peeled off the slab after you roll it. If the clay was cracking, the it was too dry for whatever you were trying to do with it. If you need to bend and shape the slab, you need wetter clay. For building boxes and such, leather hard slabs work best.

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If the recycled clay was completely dry, you will have zero plasticity even with 5 minutes of wedging. You will not be able to work with it in any real fashion. Or you can mix in 50/50 clay that hasn't gone dry to regain some plasticity. (Or run it through a vacuum pug mill)

 

For slab work I do prefer starting with stiffer clay. My rolling (and frequent lifting to prevent sticking) is done on a wooden table.

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Reclaimed clay definitely seems shorter to me as well. I only use reclaimed clay for smaller items. I have not tried mixing reclaim with new so don't know how that affects things. I don't have a pugmill so can't say whether that makes a difference or not.

 

T

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What I find really helps prevent short clay is to save my throwing water, let it settle overnight then the next day I pour off the top water and add the slop at the bottom to my recycled clay. I save it up and add it to my mixer/pugger but you can do the same with recycled clay done by hand. You are adding the fines back into the clay, they help with plasticity.  Also, if you have a lot of clay to pug and not a lot of saved slop then you can whiz some macaloid and hot water together to make a fairly wet gel, let it sit overnight then add a glug of that to the mixer/pugger. (technical measurement there)

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This is why I am not a fan of using recycled clay that you do not personally know the history of.

Sounds like you are working with clay so short you might barely be able to roll it into a worm shape.

 

Use new clay and your slab work will go like a dream whether you roll it out on canvas, old bedsheets or a wooden table.

 

P.s.

NO you do not have to wait until a clay slab is leather hard to work on it. You can work on it any time from fresh from the bag to leather hard.

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Thank you all for your responses! I am going to try again today. The biggest problem I find is the shortness. I have a few very simple projects in mind and I am surprised at how quickly I failed before I began! I will head the advice and give updates.

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There is a lot to be said for how you recycle the clay. I think most of the shortness is to do with not getting the water in between every clay particle. Excess water over bone dry clay (a good 3 inch of water above the clay line) and multiple mixing over a week or so then another few weeks to let the water evaporate so it was an acceptable consistency to dry out on a plaster batt. It takes time and space, not something everybody can do. I guess I am ageing in excess water instead of mixing and then ageing at the right consistency.

 

I also try and add all the throwing slop back in to keep as many of the tiny particles or anything else in the water.

 

I don't like rolling slabs and will get to the right thickness by cheesewiring with a harp or thickness guides and then rolling if I have to. Even if your surface is plaster and not making the clay stick it always sticks to my rolling pin. Finally I can't even roll something the same thickness and get a more even slab with a wire.

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Update: I tried it again and got much better results.

 

 

But you know what? Now it was too easy. I had very simple platters and serving boards in mind. And I felt like I was missing something. There was no wedging, no centering, no bringing up the walls... just rolled out a slab on our big slab roller, let it leather up a bit, and start carving and shaping! I used a very dark red clay with excellent plasticity and little cracking. After I was done it felt a little empty, like "What? I didn't just spend 10 minutes centering and pulling up a cylinder to make the form?"

 

Maybe I just like the challenge of throwing and the sense of pride in creating something all in one sitting. Sure slab building took longer in the sense to dry and decorate, but it felt too casual. Maybe it will grow on me. :rolleyes:

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I will admit there is a certain amount of addiction to the whole throwing thing. It is a meditation, a dance with the clay, a feeling of nirvana, a sensual exploration or so many other things. So much so that many do not return to handbuilding because of the need to . . . throw. However, there is something more defined about slab building and other hand building. 

 

When I taught classes in the HS, I stressed the idea of creating a sketch in an orthographic projection showing the front, right, and top view of an object. each in scale to the first drawing. This gave the basic plan for a 3 dimensional construction, could be a box, a house, a sculpture, or any other object with height and width an length. Measuring, decorating and assembling the slabs needed for this took several weeks, but in the end there was much satisfaction from the student. It was not immediate, it was not easy, but it was a steady process that you could get as lost in doing as you can on the wheel.

 

Slabs that are basically flat, are much a different story. However, even here one can get more than a little creative. Do you decorate just before shaping; or do you decorate, stretch and then shape. Do you add handles, or add in a thrown rim for a softer look; do you work with slips or engobes, or do some form of monoprint on the surface. Much of this can cause a simple platter project to become much more of a challenge. Sometimes it takes raising the expectations of where something as simple as a platter might go.

 

best,

Pres

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Slab building is more fun when you throw the slabs to stretch them like Lana Wilson.

They are so much looser when they have not been pressed flat by the slab roller.

 

Now, I am a hand builder by preference ... throwing round things is just a way to get something I can change into another shape!

Funny to say that when I will soon be publishing my results with purposeful color placement in throwing.

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I am pleased with my projects, and I totally can see how it appeals to other people. I myself, I think, am addicted to the cylindrical motion of the wheel and the technique of creating a form while in motion. I am sure there are advanced and well thought out hand building techniques, and maybe one day I will take a slab stab at it again! (:

 

@oldlady Your work is lovely, I love the decoration and attention to detail. I made a little jewelry holder with some floral stamps, and I am excited to see how it comes out.

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lol sydney you will get to a point where even the wheel will become so easy then you'll say now what.

 

i am too a student and having taken classes in both handbuilding and throwing i am at a point where i find i want both. however i have always prefered pinch pots without total smoothing out. i love the dents and and finger marks in the clay as i hold the bowl or a cup. i discovered i am a texture person and super smooth on the wheel does not really interest me. 

 

right now i have found a happy medium (which wouldnt probably work as a professional potter) where i throw on the wheel and trim by hand. or i make a pinch pot or cup and smooth the inside on a wheel. i do like the wheel. i like the speed of making something - but i dont like its perfection. since i am still a newbie at the wheel once in a while i'll treat myself to an uncentered pot or cup. but otherwise i am really throwing to get better at it.

 

i discovered i had to do both to find out what i liked - which was ultimately a combination of both. throw on the wheel and alter and trim by hand or create by hand and trim on the wheel. 

 

there is a voluminous pinch pot pitcher that is calling to me. i'll probably work on it during christmas break. 

 

oh and there is something to frustration.

 

first semester i took handbuilding. i loved it. next semester i thought why not just try the wheel and see. i have never ever been so frustrated in my life. for a short summer class i took intermediate handbuilding. even more frustrating. i could not believe i liked throwing till i took the summer handbuilding class. i am very impatient and the slow progress was killing me. now that i am back in throwing again i've touched another part of myself which appreciates the importance of slowing down. its been such a discovery. 

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there is no either or about wheel and handbuilding.  they go together easily.  on a day that calls for one, the other will wait for you.  the 25 empty bowls for the 4th of november are going into the kiln tomorrow.  made some over several months and then realized on tuesday that i need 25 and only had 8.  so tuesday was throwing day, wednesday was dry-them-fast-in-the-oven so you can trim them today.  today was glaze day and tomorrow they go into the kiln.  

 

but the kiln really wants some more things to fill it up, so slabs go on the other shelves.  need work for the holiday sale so flat pieces crank out very fast and i like making them, too.

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