Ceramic Slab Technique

Jomon vessel 3000 2000 b c e on view at tokyo national museum tokyo japan.

Ceramic slab technique.

Handbuilding is working with clay by hand using only simple tools not the pottery wheel. Today slab pots and slab building techniques are experiencing a renewed popularity. The most common handbuilding techniques are pinch pottery coil building and slab building. Handbuilding is an ancient pottery making technique that involves creating forms without a pottery wheel using the hands fingers and simple tools.

Slabbing clay is a technique the includes rolling out slabs of clay and then cutting out pieces and attaching them together to create pots cups and urns. Birdie boone works with super thin slabs to make. Slabbing clay is a handbuilding pottery technique that has been around for centuries. To make a pinch pot one inserts a thumb into a ball of clay and continually pinches the the clay between the thumb and fingers while rotating to thin.

Once the clay is leather hard cut out your pieces and join them by scoring and slipping. Liz zlot summerfield is also an excellent resource for slab building techniques. If you have caught the slab pottery bug you ve come to the right place for inspiration. More on soft slab pottery.

Use only dried and firm slabs of clay for this technique. The slabs of clay need to still be wet enough to produce strong seams yet also firm enough to be able to hold up their own weight when placed vertically. Before potters began using pottery wheels simple tools were used to create clay pottery. Before potters had the wheel they were creating beautiful pots and clay forms using clay their hands and fingers and basic hand tools.

Also joints in slab built pieces are more likely to crack or split during. Below are the three most common forms of creating hand built pots. Modern potters and ceramic sculptors have embraced the slab creating works using both soft slabs and stiff leather hard slabs. To get you started check out this article by daryl baird on using slump molds with soft slabs.