Many potters will not do commissioned work if it isn’t something within their normal scope for many valid reasons. I will take on a commissioned work if it intrigues me. Recently a friend asked for a large tray, much larger than anything I’ve done before. I said I’d give it a go even though I do not have,
- A slab roller
- A mold for it
- Experience with hand building large.
What I did have was a curiosity about how the heck I was going to do it. I follow approximately 2 million potters, some new, some with decades of experience. I learn from them all. Recently there was a potter who used a cookie sheet for a mold for a large tray…well dang I’d sacrifice a cookie sheet to my pottery studio if this works.
Ok..item number one…no slab roller. A slab roller is like a table sized pasta maker for pottery, it makes lovely huge sheets of even clay and there isn’t one in my studio (it’s my next big purchase). I did it the old fashioned method. I threw it…not like wheel thrown, but literally threw it back and forth on the table, flattening it took it a bit more each time I threw it.
And ended up with this massive piece of clay. Trust me it takes practice.
Number two, no mold…in comes the sacrificial cookie sheet. Clay has memory and moving huge sheets of clay can instill in the clay, a good place to crack, air bubbles, and weak points. I used packing paper to work and move the clay.
Number three…no experience hand-building that large…when did no experience ever stop me? I live for no experience. I love the unknown and to take a chance. I embrace change. I jump in the deep end and figure it out.
Here is where we are with this order today. It’s doing a extremely slow weighted dry so it won’t warp.
And here it is up close. The glaze will do some amazing things with this texture. Yes it still needs clean up, but I think I may be on to something here. Follow me and you can see my progress. Teri🦊
