Pottery Tutorial for Beginners — Slab & Coil Technique

Welcome to this video. Today we're going to learn how to make these pots in the shortest time possible. For the base I'm using a fine fresh ceramic clay that has the perfect texture and color for this kind of work. The first step in pottery is preparing the clay. Basically kneading it to get it ready for work. If you're a beginner and not familiar with this part, I really recommend checking out the pottery school playlist and watching the videos in order. It'll make this step much easier for you. Next I'm using the slab method. I roll out my clay and keep the piece. Make sure to cover it with a cotton cloth and then shape your slab over the mold, just like It's going to sit right on the slab we just made. When you're attaching the coil to the slab, take your time and make sure it's really well connected because this coil will be the foundation of your piece. Next let the clay sit on the mold until it reaches a leather hard stage and starts to hold its shape. Once it's firm enough, gently remove it from the mold, flip it upside down into the same mold and then, as you can see in the video, start adding coils to build up the form. When you're adding the coils to your main slab, be careful not to use too much water. Just use a slightly damp sponge that's enough to help the coils stick better. If your clay isn't very fresh, it's better to use clay slip instead of plain water. I'll explain how to make the slip in the caption below. I want to use different types of clay in my piece to bring out more colors and textures. So first I'm using this clay to make the coil and then I'll switch to another kind of clay. I'll write more details about how to choose and mix different clays in the caption, but just to give you a quick tip, try to pick clays that have a similar base and fire at the same temperature. When you're attaching coils made from different clays, make sure to use some clay slip to secure the connection. It doesn't really matter which type of clay you make the slip from, just make sure to use it. Also, use a good scoring tool like the one I'm holding in the video and scratch both the inside and outside where the coil and the slab meet. This helps make sure they're fully joined together Once it reaches the leather heart stage, you can attach it to the first part. Just make sure to roll out the slab to the same thickness as the slab you made before. Right from the start, I cut out the opening from the second slab so I can get my hand inside. This lets me score and connect the joints from the inside. As much as possible, try to add coils on the inside at the connection points. Doing this helps make sure both slabs stick together really well. As you can see in the video, I fill in the empty spots with a third clay. This one's black. I actually use coils to fill those areas so the design I want shows up on the piece. Once you've checked all the connections, go over the whole joint area again with your scoring tool. This makes sure everything is really secure and honestly, I'd say this is the most important part of the whole process. Next, start scoring all the connections from the inside and make sure there's no spot left that isn't properly joined. Finally, you start shaping the opening of your pot using coils and attach it to the piece. After this, let your work rest under plastic for a few hours or even up to a day. Once it reaches the right leather hard stage, you can start refining the surface. You'll see later how I do this. When refining the surface, make sure your piece has reached the right leather hard stage so that pressing on it won't change its shape. To refine your piece, you can use metal scrapers, scoring tools, trimming tools or even very fine sandpaper. Go over the whole surface and keep working on it until you get a finish you like. I hope you enjoyed watching this tutorial. If you have any questions about making this piece, feel free to leave them in the comments. I'd also love to hear what kind of tutorials you'd like to see in the future.