Handbuilding Techniques: The Slab Method

The Assignment:
To create three pieces using the slab method: one soft slab, one hard slab, and one raku.

Each handbuilding technique has its benefits and downfalls. All of the methods have a potential of giving beautiful circular shapes, however, only the slab method can produce a sharp corner. This is particularly true of the hard slab method. Like all slab projects, the clay is first rolled out to a desired thickness (1/8-1/4 inch), and then the potter cuts out each component of the shape, lets it dry to a leather hard state and then joins the pieces together.  On the other hand, one can use slab in a more free-form way, by using molds. This is called soft slab, in other words, soft wet clay that is able to take on any shape. A mold can be anything from a bowl to a cylinder or even a cone. The potter simply places the clay onto the desired mold and then lets it dry to a leather hard state before taking it off, allowing the clay to take on that same shape.

Soft Slab

Soft slab is my least favorite method within slab handbuilding, because of the obvious lack of control over the shape. So for my soft slab assignment I decided to go with a bowl shaped mold. Since The bowl shape tends to be very sturdy in the firing process and doesn't warp as much at high temperatures, I went as thin as possible for the walls. I rolled out a large slab to an 1/8 inch thickness, draped it over a newspaper covered bowl, and then folded the walls in over each other, smoothed, and curved them in to create a twisting drapery effect on the sides. After it became close to leather hard, I took it off the mold and smoothed the inside of the bowl.

The glazes I used for this piece were:

•  Oil Spot Black for the inside of the bowl and
• Weathered bronze with Honey on top for accent

Hard Slab

Since the hard slab process requires to work with leatherhard slabs most of the time, it opens up many different design ideas. I decided to put some carving action into this piece. At first This piece was going to be a vase, but I got the idea to carve designs in the body from  this video of Bill Finley's ceramic artwork:

I started by rolling a piece of slab onto a cylinder pipe, and then carved designs into it while the clay was still wet. Once the clay became leatherhard I took it off the cylinder, and added the top and the bottom, which were both thrown on the wheel. Then I smoothed down the edges and sanded down the whole piece once it was bone dry. Honestly, I fell in love with the idea of carving that I made two more similiar vases. The first vase became warped because it was made a little differently. Instead of carving the designs into the body while it was still on the cylinder, I did it after. Thus creating a huge impact on the body while I tried to carve in the designs.

   



When it came to glazing these, I liked the idea of contrast. I also tried not to distract from the beauty of the designs by using matte glazes for the bodies. For my first vase I used:

• Fake Ash
• Oil spot Black



For my second vase I used a turqoise matte along with white, However, for my third vase, below, I used the same glazes that I did for the slab bowl. Put a candle in one of these in you get a latern that will shine the designs onto the walls around it!

  

  

 

Raku

There is beauty in the process of raku, the beauty of the unknown. One can do all he or she can to control the process but in the end it is always unpredictable. Raku is a low-fire process in which the potter heats the clay pots in a kiln, then takes it out when it is a glowing, bright red and puts it into containers full of ignitable material such as paper or leaves. Once the material catches on fire, the lids are closed in order to cut off the oxygen supply, creating an extreme reduction atmosphere in which vivid metalic glazes and crackling is possible. Western raku was adopted from the traditional Japenese raku firing. It is usually done outdoors, due to the excessive amounts of smoke and ash and is a fun way to spend a cool spring or autumn day. Below are some pictures I took of the process:

For my Raku piece I decided to make a slab vase as well. I first started by cutting out patterens for the individual slabs: a long trapezoid for the sides and a square base. Once the clay was close to leatherhard I scored slipped and attached all the pieces together. Then I threw the top part on the wheel, scored, slipped, and attached it to the slab body. To finish it off, I trimmed off all the excess clay.

Due to the extreme temperature changes and rough handling of the raku process, clay bodies are subject to a great risk of falling apart or cracking. This is especially true with raku slab pieces. Unfortuanately, my vase didn't survive the raku process in whole, but I succeeded in gluing all the fragments together with Epoxy.

Handbuilding Techniques: The Pinch Method

The Assignment:

 To create three pinch pots with one opened, one closed, and the last asymmetrical or abstract.

Every foundational ceramic class usually starts with Handbuilding, basically working and sculpting clay by hand.This was a little frustrating for me, because ever since I took ceramics I wanted to work on the potter's wheel. However, its just common sense to get the feel of clay and learn its nature with one's hands before using a machine or a tool to aid in the process. There are three hand building methods which are pinch, coil, and slab.

I started out with the pinch method which is very basic, because all one does is...pinch the clay!

The thing with using the pinch method is that no matter how much one pinches that clay or smooths it down, the pot will never be perfect, however that is the beauty of it...it's perfect within its imperfection. That's what gives it proof that it was made by a human.

The pinch method was the first method ever used by humans and early civilizations because all it requires is some crafty hands and a ball of clay.


Opened Pinch Pot

My first pinch pot was not at all easy as I thought it would be. It took me two tries before I finally got the walls even on all sides, especially the bottom which tends to be very thick. Once I was finally satisfied with the basic bowl shape, I started to make it unique. First, I added a few carved in designs around the pot; using my judgement on making the pattern fit nicely all around the pot. Then I added a few spikes to the top of the pot with all little curve to them. However, by then i realized it looked somewhat like a pineapple so i decided to make the spikes into leaves by carving a line through the center of each one. And Voila! a pineapple pencil holder.


Closed Pinch Pot

Making a closed pinch pot was more challenging for me than an open one because the clay, whenever pinched, naturally tends to expand outward. The pot didn't necessarily have to be completely shut; the word "closed" intended simply having the top of the pot narrower than the base. However, I have to confess that I didn't make this pot from one ball of clay. Instead I made two open pinch pots and then scored, slipped and attached them together, making an egg-shaped oval. Then I cut an opening in the top to make it a small pinch vase.

Glazing the vase was the more creative and interesting part. After it has been bisque fired, I glazed the entire pot, with the exception of the band in the middle, an Oil Spot Black glaze. This glaze gives off a silvery/oily sheen in certain areas . Then I let a Honey glaze run down in streaks from the bottom and top. The Middle section was glazed with Heinriender white and Magruders red. After it was fired for the second time at cone 5-6, the Honey that was over the Oil spot black turned into a more bluish hue.

Asymmetrical Pinch Pot

I decided to go all out on the third pinch pot. As a result, I decided to make a pinch sculpture piece. As always, I began by sketching every crazy idea that came to my head. However, in the end I settled down with making a shoe. But not just any shoe, I gave it a pair of wings for a more mythical and unique feel. This piece was made with two separate pinch pots as well. Even though I used slabs for the wings and the tongue part, the shoe is mostly pinch.

When it came to glazing the shoe, I decided to play around with wax on this one. First, I dipped it into Fake Ash, which gives an ivy green with  brown streaks. Second, I painted on wax ivy designs from the tip of the shoe sprouting upwards. Then I dipped the entire exterior body into Oil Spot Black, which receded from the wax allowing the ivy designs to show. To finish it off, I glazed the wings white. However, the wings got some yellow in them upon firing.



How I Got Into Ceramics

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.
Pablo Picasso

It all starts at an early age, with coloring books, crayons, fingerpainting and play-doh; when all the children try to color "inside the lines" and are unashamed to proudly gift simple drawings of houses, flowers, and stick figures to their parents. However, when does a child officialy have a talent for art, and who calls it?

I can't exactly say how it was for me. It could have been those moments when I held a paintbrush in my hands in kindergarten, draped from head to toe and standing in front of a huge piece of paper with an array of different colors in front of me; Or it could have been those times when I stood in my Dad's study and watched him sketch and shade drawings of various objects, as I watched a plain peice of paper transform into reality. At an early age, I started to develop a desire to create beauty.

Now let's take this story down  ten years or so, when I was in high school. I still had the desire to create beauty. I would take one painting class after another every year to keep developing my skill in art and to pursue my passion. However, in the middle of my high school carrer I had to switch from a city high school to county high school. Since county high schools aren't usually as funded as city high schools, I quickly made the assumption that the art program would suck. However, I couldn't be more wrong. In addition to painting and drawing classes, the school offered a ceramics class. Since I'm very prone to try out new things and I had alot of room for electives, I took that class out of mere curiosity. Little did I know that I would fall in love with ceramics.

I am now in a college that is just launcing a new art major, so I am taking a ceramics course to refresh my high school skills. My Goal is to perfect my skills in the art of ceramics and fulfill my desire to create beauty.