|
Outside the Wheel:
Slab-Built Tableware
Skill Level - Previous experience in
handbuilding and/or throwing recommended
|
|
Background
Who said that plates have to be round? In our industrialized
society, people often assume that the potter's wheel is the logical choice for
efficient production of handmade tableware. The potter's wheel is one logical choice,
but certainly not the only one. The wheel inevitably defines ways of
working that determine much of the design and aesthetic of wares
produced. That is not a bad thing, but no potter should be restricted any
more than necessary by the studio equipment used. Today, many
potters simply use the wheel as a device to make components that are extensively
altered and assembled to produce the finished product. Others have discovered a world of possibility through handbuilding
tableware with
slabs.
Flat planes can be manipulated and formed in many ways, and
clay slabs are especially resilient and flexible (literally and figuratively).
The early Industrial Revolution itinerant tinsmith, with rolls of sheet
metal, simple shears and forming tools, and a soldering iron could form an
infinite range of discs, cylinders, and cones, and from them fabricate any
sort of utilitarian vessel for the kitchen, workshop, or barn. The same can be done with clay slabs, with the added
advantages of clay's natural plasticity, allowing slabs to be stretched and/or
slumped to create dome or bowl shapes, or organic forms.
Workshop Description
This workshop explores soft-slab forming and slumping methods suitable
for dinnerware such as trays, plates, platters, and bowls, plus soft- and
stiff-slab methods appropriate for volumetric drinking, pouring, serving, and
storage vessels. Slab construction offers diverse possibilities for a wide
range of utilitarian tableware. The results can be loosely gestural and
anthropomorphic or tight and rigidly geometric. Plate and bowl forms can
be round, triangular, square, polygonal, or asymmetrical.
Much of the potential of slab construction lies in the jigs,
fixtures, and molds. You will learn to work with rigid construction
foam-board, PVC pipe, and various other materials that allow quick and
easy construction of slump molds and forming fixtures.
We will explore surface decoration options appropriate to
soft- and stiff-slab construction, with special consideration of hygienic,
low-maintenance utilitarian surfaces. Although our primary concerns are design and construction, we
will bisque-fire as much work as possible so that it can be
transported safely.
This workshop will help develop a different mindset,
enhancing your sense of "spatial thinking" as applied to tableware forms.
Western traditions of utilitarian tableware reveal a limited range of precedent, and
the potter should never feel restricted to those forms. We want you to
visualize and realize new possibilities beyond the common or expected solutions.
Please bring samples or images of your
work to share with the group.
Materials Provided On-Site by Host
 | Buff or white stoneware clay containing fine sand or grog (80-mesh or
finer), decorating slips (white, black, and a few colors) |
| One
gallon vinegar, two gallons slurry made from the claybody |
| Approximately three dozen large sheets of poster
board (get the cheap packages at Wal-Mart, Office-Max, or Staples) |
| Two 4'x8'x1"
(or four 2'x8'x1") and one 4'x8'x2" (or two 2'x8'x2") sheets
of rigid construction foamboard to make slump molds. Please make sure that
it is the closed-cell pink or blue construction foamboard, not the crumbly white
stuff. Check into pricing on the foamboard at Lowe's, Home Depot, or a
good professional builder's supply to find the best price, and be sure to
include the cost into the workshop fee, because the participants will each make
a selection of foam slump molds and keep them. The foamboard is
available from home-improvement centers. Get the pink or blue foamboard -
not the small sheets of white Styrofoam - it is unsuitable for this use.
|
| Several sheets each of coarse and medium sandpaper for shaping the
foamboard. |
Facilities and Equipment Provided by Host
|
Digital projector with PC connector cable |
| Appropriately dark room with
large screen
or a large white wall |
| Large work tables |
| 24" stool |
| Slab roller |
| One dozen 24" by 36" sheets of 10 oz. unprimed canvas duck |
| Heavy-duty
rolling pin with 15" by 3" body and bearing-mounted handles (Google
"Vic Firth maple rolling pin" or "Thorpe maple rolling pin") |
| Saber saw with an extra-long
fine-tooth blade and an adjustable foot allowing 45-degree cuts |
| Two clear
plastic lidded storage boxes (approx.
18"x24"x12" high, for me to use as damp boxes) |
| One plastic
spray-bottle for vinegar water |
| Several sturdy banding wheels |
| One standard propane canister for a hand-held propane
torch (I'll bring the torch) |
| At least eight approximately 2' by 3' pieces of 1/2" plywood
for handling and flipping textured slabs |
| A good assortment of wareboards and
bats for handling and flipping slab-built plates and bowls |
| An assortment of varying lengths (6" to 10") of carpet tubes
or PVC pipe of various diameters from 2" to 6" |
| Wood dowels - one length (generally either 48" or 36") each of 1/4",
5/16", 3/8", 1/2", 5/8" and 3/4" - cut each one in half and bring both
halves |
Supplies for Participants to Bring
Clay is generally purchased on-site. Colored slips, joining slurry,
vinegar, and posterboard (for templates) will be provided. The following is a
lengthy list of supplies for a workshop, but these are the things you will need
in order to continue doing this work on your own, and we will be able to make
better use of the time we have if you bring all of these supplies. For
those flying in to take this workshop, check with the workshop host to see if
some of these supplies might be available onsite.
Note: The Kemper tools are available from your local ceramic supplier or at www.bigceramicstore.com.
The Stanley Surform tools are available at most local hardware stores or at www.amazon.com
- enter "Stanley Surform" in the search box.
| Four square yards of unprimed 10 oz. canvas duck, cut into 24" by 36"
pieces - "10-ounce" is a trade reference to the weight per yard, and
that's how canvas is sold in art supply stores. If you buy from an
awning, sail, or house painting supply business they might not use the ounce
per yard reference, in which case you just need to look for good heavy-duty
canvas, but make sure it is not primed or sealed at all. |
| Standard clay tools (the packaged Kemper kit contains a wood rib,
stainless-steel scraper-rib, wood knife, needle tool, cutoff wire, small
sponge, and trimming tools) |
| Kemper S-10 flexible stainless steel serrated rib (no substitutes) |
| Metal fork |
| A few soft brushes at least 1/2" diameter or 1" wide suitable
for applying slip |
| X-acto knife (pencil-thin model with 1" tapered blade - no
substitutions) |
| Scissors |
| 18" or 24" ruler |
| Pencil |
| Compass (for drawing circles) |
| Wood rolling pin with bearing-mounted handles (no one-piece rolling pins) -
for the best ones, Google "Vic Firth maple rolling pin" or "Thorpe
maple rolling pin," and get
the one with the 12" barrel - they are listed as either 2.75"
diameter or 3" diameter, but either will work fine. |
| Wood dowels - one length each of 1/4", 5/16",
3/8", 1/2", 5/8" and 3/4" - available from any hardware
store or home improvement center - cut them all in half and bring both
halves. If you have access to a bench grinder, grind the ends to a
slight point. . |
| Stanley Surform Shaver (short curved blade) and Stanley Surform Pocket
Plane (5" flat blade). Get both types - these are made to be
woodworking tools, but are excellent for shaving clay - they are available
from any good hardware store or home improvement center or online. |
| Small, sturdy banding wheel. The 8" CSI turntable available from most
ceramics suppliers for around $16 is fine for our needs, but any sort of
good-quality banding wheel will work. |
| Spray bottle for vinegar water |
| Small plastic bucket for water |
| Small snap-lid plastic container for slurry |
| 6 manila folders for small templates |
| A selection of bisque stamps, assorted rope/cord, and/or other textured objects or materials to
impress texture into clay slabs. |
| 12 dry-cleaner bags or large plastic garbage bags to cover your work |
| Small towel or other sturdy rag |
| Apron (optional) |
| If you are driving, bring a large clear plastic storage bin with lid,
approximately 18" by 24" by 12" deep, to serve as a personal damp box.
Transport your supplies in a separate box so that the plastic bin will be
available for the intended use. |
Schedule for a Five-Day Workshop
This schedule serves as a general guide, but must remain flexible. Every
workshop group is different, and the schedule always evolves to suit the needs
and productivity of the participants.
Monday Morning - Introduction to the workshop, general information
about the studio and our work schedule. Discussion/demo of making templates,
rolling slabs, using rolling pin to eliminate directional grain structure -
discussion of problems with clay-memory in slabs.
Monday Afternoon - Discussion-demo of making and using
rigid foam slump molds, adding foot ring. Demo of slab-texturing and
impressing techniques for soft-slab and stiff-slab methods. Work on
templates, slump molds, make slabs.
Tuesday Morning - Further discussion/demo of slumped trays, plates and
platters. Work on textured slabs, slump/hump molds, slumped trays, plates
and platters
Wednesday Morning - Discussion/demo of foam bowl molds and slumped
bowls, adding foot ring. Work on projects.
Wednesday Afternoon - Discussion/demo of tube components for handles
and spouts, other ways of making handles and pour spouts. Work on projects.
Load bisque-firing of all dry work.
Wednesday Afternoon or Evening - Slide show
about Vince’s work.
Thursday Morning - Discussion/demo of larger two-piece
platters, adding handles to slumped
trays, plates and bowls. Work on projects.
Thursday Afternoon - Discussion/demo of making parts for larger
pitchers. Continued work on assembled forms.
Friday - Discussion/demo of pitcher assembly. Unload bisque firings, clean up studio.
Discuss work, outcomes, possibilities, look at images and/or samples of
work brought by participants, have lunch.
If you are interested in hosting one of my workshops,
please contact me for terms, pricing, and
scheduling.
²
|
