How to Make Slab Built Mugs

This is a step-by-step guide on how I make 4 different styles of slab built mugs. Slab pottery mugs can be lovely to look at and use and they are a simple way of making functional pottery using handbuilding techniques.
Here is a link to an article that outlines how I make my slab pottery mug templates: thepotterywheel.com/slab-pott...
Timestamps for sections of the video:
00:00 Intro
01:39 How to make cylinder shaped slab mugs
27:51 How to make conical shaped slab mugs
35:49 How to make tankard shaped slab mugs
40:09 How to make bellied slab mugs
If you'd like to check out any of my other projects, please check out my site @thepotterywheel.com

Пікірлер: 66

  • @bethholt1517
    @bethholt1517Сағат бұрын

    What a great video. You’re very peaceful way of explaining is refreshing. Love the variation of shapes. Just lovely. Glazes are also very nice.

  • @ruthweissart
    @ruthweissart4 ай бұрын

    Such a thorough explaination step by step with your sweet gentle, “you and do it” encouraging voice. Thank you.

  • @suzanneadams9371
    @suzanneadams9371 Жыл бұрын

    Such a lovely “visit” to your studio. I watched this while also building slab mugs. You offer so many great tips! Thank you.

  • @fighterfighter9340
    @fighterfighter9340 Жыл бұрын

    You're very brilliant and kind. I enjoy watching all the techniques making different type of mugs.❤You gain my knowledge. Thank you.

  • @maryjeanallen6189
    @maryjeanallen61892 жыл бұрын

    Fantastic, clear, patient video! Thank you very much for sharing your time and talents!

  • @ThePotteryWheel

    @ThePotteryWheel

    2 жыл бұрын

    thanks Mary Jean, I'm glad it helped :)

  • @wendycornish3683
    @wendycornish368311 ай бұрын

    Thank you for the detailed explanations you provide of every step in the process of making the various mugs. Lots of hints and tips that obviously come from years of making!😊

  • @allsop91
    @allsop916 ай бұрын

    I really wanted to give pottery a try and had kind of given up on the idea because I couldn't justify buying a wheel. This is really helpful, thank you! :)

  • @emilygodwin9412
    @emilygodwin94122 жыл бұрын

    Thank you so much for sharing your talent through these instructional videos. After watching this (many times) and your video on how to make a conical template, I was able to hand build my own mug at home! Verified these are great videos for learning :) thanks again,

  • @concernedcitizen8968
    @concernedcitizen8968 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you so much for sharing your gift!!!

  • @wwpetko-6760
    @wwpetko-6760 Жыл бұрын

    You are BRILLIANT! Thank you so much for this. And you’re so calming & soothing!❤

  • @Maryzlem
    @Maryzlem Жыл бұрын

    I reallly love your videos ! Your work is so clean and precise.

  • @mokshaji5406
    @mokshaji5406 Жыл бұрын

    So inspiring!!! All the best!!

  • @barbsl5597
    @barbsl55978 ай бұрын

    Wonderful presentation. You were through and clear on how to make these beautiful slab mugs. Thank you.

  • @mcberridge8180
    @mcberridge81805 ай бұрын

    So helpful clear and informative! Thank you

  • @tatianasattin5452
    @tatianasattin54523 ай бұрын

    Beautiful!!!

  • @thehallhive9425
    @thehallhive9425 Жыл бұрын

    Great tutorial!

  • @vulcanswork
    @vulcanswork Жыл бұрын

    BTW, the Relief stamps are of outstanding quality, I know because I got me some.

  • @aldeirrodrigues411
    @aldeirrodrigues411 Жыл бұрын

    It's simply fantastic the way you teach! Thank you for sharing your art🙏🌺🌺🌺

  • @ThePotteryWheel

    @ThePotteryWheel

    Жыл бұрын

    Thanks Aldeir :)

  • @sharonatseanicstudios9970
    @sharonatseanicstudios9970 Жыл бұрын

    What an incredibly descriptive video that is super easy to follow. I now feel as if I can try any of these mugs with some success. Thank you!

  • @ThePotteryWheel

    @ThePotteryWheel

    Жыл бұрын

    Glad it was helpful!

  • @gabriellawilhelm9718
    @gabriellawilhelm97186 ай бұрын

    Fantastische Arbeit 👍👏👏👏

  • @Sheepdog1314
    @Sheepdog13142 жыл бұрын

    excellent

  • @wendydee3007
    @wendydee30072 жыл бұрын

    Brilliant - so many really useful tips, thank you :o)

  • @ThePotteryWheel

    @ThePotteryWheel

    2 жыл бұрын

    Hi Wendy, thanks, I'm glad it's helpful :)

  • @lorraineschiodtz3627
    @lorraineschiodtz3627 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you for sharing your knowledge, such nice and easy teaching to follow. I was wondering if you had videos on glazing too?

  • @kathygodfrey3158
    @kathygodfrey3158 Жыл бұрын

    Fantastic, thank you. Would you please share which glazes you used? They are also beautiful 😍

  • @LLOYD3D
    @LLOYD3DАй бұрын

    You works so clean, i'm learning a lot whit your video. 15:40 Can you use the compass directly on the clay?

  • @clifforddalton3067
    @clifforddalton3067 Жыл бұрын

    very interesting, thank you. some say all this scratching and slipping isn't necessary but I don't know really.

  • @gnarbeljo8980

    @gnarbeljo8980

    11 ай бұрын

    It really depends on how firm your pieces are when joining. The timing and consistency of your clay dictates your technique really. For instance, say you were working with a reasonably large production of mugs, then these techniques would be too timeconsuming and for me personally, too fiddly. I used to have a studio and am watching lots of videos to learn how to possibly teach courses, besides for my curiousity how others work. I personally learned alot more about workflow and form from working with professional potters than I did at my full time art college ceramics course back in the day. I see alot of potters on yt doing extremely tidy, painstakingly slow work I do admire but don't have the patience for. Even people with perfect nails (mystifying). You can slab build using more hybridized techniques I'd describe as a combo of sculpting, slabwork and pinching/ coiling. Making it very fast, but much trickier if using delicate texturizing in the beginning, better then to carve or use rollers after the basic form is all done. (Also any real height like vases and big pots require leaving a bottom section to firm up naturally). The handle- making using the "milking method" (she refers to it as "carrot") can be done off the hump as well, if you're producing a set of several mugs, ie a larger sc hump of clay on a low table, pulled out at an angle, making a set of six or sixty one after another simple. I'd make mug shapes several at a time, let them firm up, then make and attach handles one by one and I never used alot of scoring and slipping, but attatched the handles more or less straight away, so the clay is soft and adheres. A little scruffing with an old worn toothbrush on the point of attatchment on the mug if you want to be super sure is enough. I'd attach the top end, curve it out and down, then attach the bottom end and stand the whole mug upsidedown if going for this ear shaped handle she's using, bc gravity will support that shape with those curves upside down alot better. It saves ALOT of time and fiddling. But my muggs often had a larger attatchment area to the top part (which is the stress point) of the handle, with a pressed thumb indentation or a stamp decoration. Her method involves two very small flat cut and perfectly angled surfaces to hold the whole handle and weight. If you look at various handmade muggs I think you'll see the differences I mean. For throwers it's a common look and technique the way I do this, it sortof keeps the work flow going, and insures also that matching larger vessel with same type handle (like a pitcher or teapot) can withstand alot of wear and all the extra weight. But these are different aesthetic considerations too. I like pieces that convey movement in the curves, and mostly threw muggs or thew and altered, built and carved with some speed expressed. I wanted that fluid quality visible to the finished piece. Ie the softness of the raw clay. Her work is more angular, clean cut, and still in expression. I think it's a question of personal temperament, and whether you do production of matching pieces and need to economize with your time and labour to make your technique viable. If you work with softer slabs you don't need to join them with slip, scoring and a little water will do, if you run your finger round the seams. But if you want visible seams, overlapping ones even, a whole third aesthetic, you want firmer slabs and slip bc there's no blending at all on the visible bits, if this makes any sense? I think this video is an awesome, detailed tutorial for beginners, and beginners don't have all these considerations, it would just confuse the goal of making a single, sound, pretty and proportionate piece of table wear to enjoy for a long time. It's also so interesting to me, as it breaks down how I did things differently, which isn't something I thought about much on my own, it's just how my routine evolved,"the knowing of hands" . That's the beauty of good teachers, they can explain every step, how to and why. To me, ceramics is so physical. Imagine you where to explain how to skateboard, bicycle or swim in detail from afar. It's not that easy to explain what it is you do. It's a valuable talent!

  • @jacquiejc6622
    @jacquiejc6622 Жыл бұрын

    What a wonderful and instructive video. May I ask the thickness of the clay you roll out. I was using 3/8 of an inch but it seems a bit thick …. Thanking you in anticipation.

  • @davidarsenault9
    @davidarsenault94 ай бұрын

    Thank you for the detailed, clear instructions. What size is your lettering?

  • @breck112000
    @breck112000 Жыл бұрын

    Hello, thank you for the wonderful tutorial. Could you please tell me the size of your rectangular template? Thank you!

  • @archisne
    @archisne11 ай бұрын

    Hello ! Thank you for sharing your slab building process. I use 4mm thick slabs to make my mugs and find that they begin to warp as they dry at the seam junction. I realised that I wasn't finishing the seams well, so I am now making sure to finish the seams really well and maintain an even thickness. However do you think the slab thickness is too less and is also contributing to the warp issue ? Would 6mm thick slabs work better ?

  • @frauscharflein3070
    @frauscharflein3070 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you for this good Demonstration 👌 do you use Clay with a grogged body? (In deutsch: schamottierter Ton)… Kind regards, Ines

  • @shellylipman5465
    @shellylipman54657 ай бұрын

    Go and buy circle cutters they come in packs with 10 sizes

  • @Pherine1
    @Pherine1 Жыл бұрын

    Excellent tutorial, can you tell me what clay you are using?

  • @ThePotteryWheel

    @ThePotteryWheel

    Жыл бұрын

    Scarva Earthstone ES10 extra smooth :)

  • @garymullins4815
    @garymullins48158 ай бұрын

    I Love your work! May I ask what script you used. It is so easy to read. thank you!

  • @ThePotteryWheel

    @ThePotteryWheel

    8 ай бұрын

    Sure, they are stamps by Relyef hope that helps :)

  • @maha-kj3504
    @maha-kj3504 Жыл бұрын

    So beautiful, but I have a question do you have to wedge the clay before ? And my clay gets dry so fast and starts to have some cracks at the ends of the slaps when I roll it I don’t know why

  • @ThePotteryWheel

    @ThePotteryWheel

    Жыл бұрын

    Hello Maha, I definitely wedge the clay if I'm reusing it, but if it's straight out of the bag and seems like it's in good shape, I often don't. Slab can crack at the edge because the clay is being stretched so much when it's being rolled. If my clay gets very dry, I wrap it in a damp piece of cloth and put it back in the bag overnight. That usually moistens it up enough.

  • @emmadwyer3169

    @emmadwyer3169

    Жыл бұрын

    I have the same problem with the cracks 😢

  • @patriciaoswalt6464
    @patriciaoswalt64646 ай бұрын

    What size is your template for the rectangle mug?

  • @micheledickey4066
    @micheledickey406611 ай бұрын

    Really love this video!! I’ve always had issues with the ends of the clay where the seams go together where the clay doesn’t bend very well. When I’ve added texture and fiddled with it it seems to have dried and it doesn’t want to be round. Any way to help with that? Thanks soo much for your videos.

  • @ThePotteryWheel

    @ThePotteryWheel

    11 ай бұрын

    Do you mean that the mug stops being round when it dries? That happens to me sometimes too. I just try to make sure that once it's formed, the rim is round when the drying starts. It starts drying wonky then it will stay wonky. Slightly thinner slabs seems to help too.

  • @micheledickey4066

    @micheledickey4066

    11 ай бұрын

    @@ThePotteryWheel Yes. Thank you so much.

  • @eleonoramosila6903
    @eleonoramosila69038 ай бұрын

    🥰🥰🥰

  • @jacquiejc6622
    @jacquiejc6622 Жыл бұрын

    Sorry, just watched again, you mention 5mm! Bless you xx

  • @patriciakoenig3966
    @patriciakoenig39667 ай бұрын

    I need those letter stamps where can I purchase them can you help.

  • @ThePotteryWheel

    @ThePotteryWheel

    7 ай бұрын

    Hi Patricia, you can check out where I bought them here...thepotterywheel.com/letter-stamps-for-clay/

  • @heididerksen8227
    @heididerksen82272 жыл бұрын

    Wondering what is the template size for the tankurd mug

  • @ThePotteryWheel

    @ThePotteryWheel

    2 жыл бұрын

    Sorry for slow reply Heidi, the dimensions of the tankard mug are Top edge 4 inches, bottom edge 3.5 inches, and height is 5 inches. Hope that helps :)

  • @heididerksen8227

    @heididerksen8227

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@ThePotteryWheel thank you and no worries

  • @blancagarciaboente4449
    @blancagarciaboente4449 Жыл бұрын

    Hola:me gustaría saber si estos mug los meten al horno ?

  • @ThePotteryWheel

    @ThePotteryWheel

    Жыл бұрын

    sim, eles precisam ser queimados em um forno

  • @blancagarciaboente4449

    @blancagarciaboente4449

    Жыл бұрын

    Gracias

  • @kathrynwade5112
    @kathrynwade51122 жыл бұрын

    I don't see the link or the template

  • @ThePotteryWheel

    @ThePotteryWheel

    2 жыл бұрын

    sorry ran out of time yesterday, I just added a link in the description to how I make the templates.

  • @teetracyfrazier5162
    @teetracyfrazier5162 Жыл бұрын

    Do you sell your mugs?

  • @ThePotteryWheel

    @ThePotteryWheel

    Жыл бұрын

    only locally :)

  • @kirstieb8025
    @kirstieb8025 Жыл бұрын

    mine don’t look like that

  • @ArtisteBleue
    @ArtisteBleue2 жыл бұрын

    Where's the template?

  • @ThePotteryWheel

    @ThePotteryWheel

    2 жыл бұрын

    sorry ran out of time yesterday, I just added a link in the description to how I make the templates.

  • @davidhumphrey1651
    @davidhumphrey1651 Жыл бұрын

    Will you marry me?