Slab Building

When I saw the HUGE leaves on my acorn squash plant, I thought I should try my hand at making one of those leaf platters I see on the internet. I have almost no experience with slab building. So I whacked off about 3 & 1/2 pounds of clay, grabbed my rolling pin out of the kitchen, my husband’s vinyl drafting pad, and my wok to use as a mold. First problem I encountered was that my rolling pin was not nearly long enough, so I tried using the “pick it up and throw it down” method of flattening clay. It worked pretty well until it got stuck to the vinyl pad. So, I scraped off the clay and rewedged. I thought maybe if I sprinkled corn starch on the pad the clay wouldn’t stick. It helped for sure, but still started sticking. This time I stopped when I saw it starting to stick and flipped the pad over, trying to peel off the clay, knocking my water bowl over in the process. I ignored the water and corn starch mess and carried my slab over to my wedging table and managed to smooth out the clay somewhat. I pressed my first leaf down in the clay and flipped it over on to the bottom of my wok. I patted the sides down best I could, and then realized I should have trimmed the edges to the shape of the leaf before I put it on the wok. Oh well. I went ahead and put my second leaf on the bottom of the slab of clay, hoping it matched up OK with the opposite side, and left it to dry overnight. So far, it’s turning out OooK…. It hasn’t cracked yet anyway.. I am going to try and attach a stem later. Learning experience for sure.