Help...how To Keep Slap Plates Flat

[sherb]

i would like to know how to keep slab built plates flat in the center... mine keep warping.

sherb

[autour de la terre]

i would like to know how to keep slab built plates flat in the center... mine keep warping.

sherb

 

 

Hi, you can be lucky they don't crack. Your best bet is to dry them soooo slowly (3 weeks at least) under plastic with stones on top in the middle so they keep flat. Your best bet is to turn your plates on the wheel. It is fun ! Always dry very slowly. Have fun !

[Denice]

i would like to know how to keep slab built plates flat in the center... mine keep warping.

sherb

 

Do you use a rib and compress your clay in the center, hand building is just like throwing compression compression compression. Hope this helps. Denice (Wichita, KS)

[mudpies]

i would like to know how to keep slab built plates flat in the center... mine keep warping.

sherb

 

 

 

For my birthday a few years ago, my friend and potter extraordinaire made me some sandbags to keep my plates flat while drying. She used pieces of an old sheet cut into various sizes and poured sand in the middle then tied them with electrical ties. The sand absorbs the water and the weight keeps them flat. Works like a charm... They have become a staple in my studio.

[bciskepottery]

Minimizing/eliminating slab warps begins with making the slab. If you use a rolling pin, be sure to roll in all directions, perhaps rotating the slab 90 degrees at a time. On a slab roller, you might be able to rotate the slab for a second pass through on the roller. When I remove canvass texture from a rolled slab, I use a large plastic drywall tool that allows me to compress the slab; I compress from all different directions -- lef to right, top to bottom, even circular. You can also use a squeegee to remove canvass textur.

 

When removing a slab from the canvass, I put a piece of clean newspaper on top of the slab, then put a wareboard on top. I then tuck the canvass over the wareboard and flip the slab.

 

Minimizing the handling of the slab helps prevent warpage and distortion -- don't handle or flip the slab more than is absolutely necessary. Once the wareboard with slab is placed on the worktable, I generally take a rolling pin and roll in each direction, along with removing the canvass texture from the second side.

 

Another approach is to transfer the slab to the wareboard and drop the wareboard/slab onto the floor -- a drop of a couple feet is generally enough to compress the slab.

[minspargal]

I slow dry my thrown plates and i do compress the centers well when i throw them. I also do hand built plates and the less you handle the slab the better.