How to make a ceramic pocket vase using slab construction. How to use slip & score attachment in ceramics. How to add design and decoration to the surface of ceramics.

1. Ceramic Construction:Pocket VaseA pocket vase is designed to hang on a wall rather than to sit on a table.

2. First you will create a paper pattern. Fold your paper in half. Draw half of the design. Your design needs handles or a “lip” so it can hang on a wall when it is done.

3. Cut out your design.

4. Place a flattish piece of clay on a piece of cloth. Put one stick on the near left side of the clay. Put the other stick on the near right side of the clay.

5. Place a second cloth on top of the clay and sticks. The clay is sandwiched between two pieces of cloth. A roller will roll over the top of the cloth-covered clay.. The roller will be perpendicular to the sticks. The roller will not be parallel to the sticks.

6. This will create a uniformly flat piece of clay called a slab.

7. Do this twice because you will need two slabs that are the size of your paper pattern.

8. This shows the outlines of the sticks and the clay. You can see that the roller rolls up and down the sticks. The sticks stop the roller from making the clay too thin. The cloth keeps the clay form sticking on the roller.

9. Place your paper pattern on one slab. Cut it out using a paper clip.

10. You can make holes to hang your pocket vase with a straw.

11. Put your name and your class period on each of your main pieces. Write it in a place that doesn’t “ruin” your slab. The edges or the back are good places for this. Never put your work away for a day without writing your name and class period with a pen.

12. Here are the two pieces I cut from my slab using a paper clip.

13. I’m going to join the two vase pieces together, but I need something to hold up the space inside my vase before I join them. I made a “hole-shaped” piece of crumpled newspaper to do this. It will hold up my top clay piece and keep it form closing up.

14. Whenever I join two pieces of clay, I first need to “slip and score” the two pieces.

15. Gently coax the two pieces together. Don’t let the space inside the vase close up.

16. You will blend these two pieces together. Use a smooth tool to blend the two pieces. Don’t pinch the clay together …pinching makes the clay thin and weak. Use a small coil of clay to help make the attachment strong and fill in holes.

17. Keep blending. Use a smooth tool. Don’t pinch. Do use extra clay to fill holes.

18. Blending involves pulling two clay bodies together…mixing them. Don’t pinch the clay. Pinching makes the clay weak.

19. After they are blended, you won’t be able to see where they joined. You can use a tool to puff up the inside and make the top of your vase nice and round.

20. Add designs and decorations. I am attaching a coil to the top of this vase. It will help my vase look more graceful.

21. Good blending will make the attachment look invisible.

22. There are many ways you can add decoration. This wire loop tool is great for drawing lines on the surface.

24. Cloth, stamps, combs, found-objects… There is no limit to the ways you can add design and decoration to your vase.

26. Never forget to write your name and class period on your sculpture. Use a pen. Put it someplace “unobtrusive.”