slab pottery

I am not much of a clay artist, but of course that is most students favorite thing to do. At the beginning of the year, I get asked at least 5 xs..."when do we get to do clay?" I usually save it until late in the year, for many reasons. At the intermediate school where I teach, we have TONS of clay stuff, because the previous teacher was a clay queen. So here are the steps to slab pottery:
You will need:
Large pieces of canvas
Two thin strips of wood these same height (1/4 inch)
Rolling pin
2-3 lbs of white clay
Plastic snowflakes, fake leaves, or anything else with a neat texture(lace)
Diff. Sized Bowls, leftover styrofoam from frozen meats- cleaned of course!
Steel wool
Kiln
Glaze

Steps:
Wedge and compress clay on canvas
Roll out clay between sticks on canvas. The sticks are to prevent your clay from being rolled too thin or thick, and help to achieve a more even slab.
Initial bottom of slab
Stamp in snowflakes, leaves, lace, etc until you have desired look.
Place slab in bowl or styrofoam platter to give slab a dip or to mold the slab into bowls/platters.
Let dry in molds until bone dry.
Sand down until smooth with steel wool or synthetic rough kitchen pads.
Fire on bisque setting.
Dab a darker glaze into snowflake grooves- its ok if it gets on the smooth part of your pottery
wipe down with damp sponge
Paint with a lighter glaze the rest of your pottery or dipp it in clear if you want it to be white.
Glaze fire
Wahla! Beautiful pottery awaits you!

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