The Slab Roller

Creating pots from slabs is a wonderful alternative making process. It has been used by many potters to construct containers and plates and decorative items. Rectangular, square, octagonal or oval shapes are easily made. Freed from the roundness of thrown pots, a whole range of possibilities open up. You need little in the way of expensive equipment, just a cutting wire and guide or a rolling pin as a starting point. Over the last twenty five years, we have used many techniques with slabs to create both a range of functional tableware and our individual work. The tableware range included square, octagonal and oval platters and these were generally formed using a press mould or a drape mould. The master shapes were formed from plaster or wood (stacked particle board, waxed to aid releasing). The drape moulds allowed us to attach a foot immediately while the press moulds usually had an extruded rim and handles attached.

Platters that are not as rigid in form as when using the drape or press mould can be formed by laying a pre-cut slab of clay over a large sponge and then pressing a shape down into the sponge. This technique is very useful when the slab is to be decorated before pressing. It allows techniques like screen printing, mono printing, underglaze colouring or slip decorating to be done while the slab is a flat surface. The clay needs to be firm enough to hold the fluid shape when pressed.

Press moulds

Two ways of using a simple press mould. The first method is generally combined with precutting the exact piece of clay slab before pressing while with the other we trim the edges after completing the press with a small hand held damp sponge

 

 

Multi-part Press Mould

We make use of multipart press mould for larger upright pots to give us non round forms.