Practical Teaching Tip: Rolling out Ceramic Slabs

This year I applied for a grant to have a visiting artist come into my class and work with my students to create a community service project. The artist specializes in ceramic tile and murals. The location my students selected to install the mural is a child care center in our community that focuses on students with special needs. After many sketches and visits to the school, we devised a plan. Each student is going to create a ceramic tile to boarder a window. In the community room of their building there are 3 large windows. One is shaped like a triangle, one is the shape of a semi-circle and the other is a square. Each window is going to have a different theme (outer space, our world, and locally our state Florida).

Practical Tip: I don't have a slab roller. Usually my students just roll out their slabs with dowel rods and a rolling pin. The artist brought a little contraption that I would like to share. Her husband used some scrap materials from his wood shop, but of course you could use other wood materials. Basically, there is a bottom piece with slats stapled to the sides. Then she used canvas to cover the wood so that the clay would not stick. She also used foam shelf liner.

The board with slats stapled to the sides

The set up: board, canvas, foam shelf liner, rolling pin and wooden stencils

Students Rolling out their Slabs

Step 1: Get your piece of clay, wedge it and then begin to flatten it out with your hand.
Step 2: Next, put the clay on the canvas inbetween the slate, and roll the slab out with a rolling pin (you should flip the clay to stretch it and change the direction of the particles so that it does not warp).
Step 3: Finally, gently roll the foam shelf liner on the back (you do this so that it creates a texture on the back of the tile. This helps to aid in drying, helps to prevent warping of the tile, and gives it grooves so that when you attach it to a wall it has grip.
Step 4: Use a stencil to cut out your tile. We used  a piece of wood the size of the tile, so that they would be consistent throughout all of their tiles.

Special Note: at first I had my students put the foam shelf liner under the clay and then roll their clay out. Since our clay was fresh it was really wet and was getting stuck to the foam shelf liner, so that it why in Step 3 I say to make the texture after.

Practical Teaching Tip: How to make Slip and other Slip Tidbits

Ceramics teachers have many methods to slipping and scoring 2 pieces of clay together. I have heard of teachers just using vinegar as a binder or teachers mixing their own slip. My preference is to mix my own slip. The important aspect of making slip is to make sure that you are using your clay body to create the slip.

Materials to make slip:

• Bone Dry pieces of clay (make sure it is completely dry and smashed up)
• Water container
• Water
• Vinegar
• Food Processor or Blender
• Squeeze bottler
• Spoon

Step 1: Gather pieces of bone dry clay and smash it into smaller pieces. I used to keep a 5 gallon paint bucket in the front of the classroom for dried out pieces of clay, but then the students started putting pieces of clay that were not bone dry (just dry enough that they didn't want to use it). SO I now keep that bucket hidden from the students and do my own collecting.

Bone Dry Clay before it has been smashed

Step 2: Once you have a pieces of bone dry clay smashed up, put them in some type of container. Fill the container up with water so that it covers the clay completely. Let sit over night

Step 3: Dump out or scoop off the top layer of excess water.

This is how the clay should look, completely soaked and settled to the bottom. The excess water will be on top.

Step 4: Begin scooping the clay into the food processor or blender. I used to use a blender, but it died and the food process works much better at chopping up the clay to a nice consistency. I mix 75% water and 25% watered down clay mixture. At this point I also add a couple cap fulls of vinegar. I don't have a specific amount of vinegar that I use, a little goes a long way. The vinegar acts as a bonding agent/glue for the slip. You do not have to add the vinegar, but I find that it holds the slip together better.

Step 5: Run the blender or food processor until the slip is the consistency of runny yogurt. You may need to add more water along the way.

Storage of the Slip: The slip with vinegar is only good for a couple weeks. After that it can start to grow mold and smell (more than it does already). I don't make a lot at a time for this reason. Take out containers are great to store the slip (i.e. clear wonton soup containers).

Additional Tip: I used to pour out the slip for each table in my classroom to share and cover the containers at the end of the night with saran wrap. The issue I faced with this is the slip drying out after a few days. My new trick is one that I found on Pinterest where you put the slip into squeeze bottle containers- this works great!!!! (I had some left over from tie dying) The squeeze bottles are less messy and all the students have to do is squeeze the slip out to the area that they need to attach. Just make sure if you use squeeze bottles that the opening is cut enough so that the slip can come out easy and make sure that the slip is a little more watered down than yogurt. One other (funny) issue is that if there are air bubble built up in the clay or if there is a chunk of clay that tries to come out, when the student squeezes the bottle the slip kind of flies out and my kids say that it "poops" out- high schoolers for ya!

Hope these tips were helpful!

How do you make your slip? 

Do you even use slip or just vinegar? I love to learn about new ideas in your room!