How to Make a Textured Pedestal Bowl ¦ Easy Slab Technique for Pottery

Hello and welcome to this tutorial. In this lesson we're going to make a stable ceramic bowl with a unique texture. At first glance it might look a bit challenging but I'll show you the easiest way to create it step by step. As always we start by choosing our favourite and most suitable clay. Wedge the clay well and prepare it for working. The first technique we'll use for this piece is the slab technique. Create a slab in the size you want and before shaping it choose the main mould for your bowl. This mould can be any container you have available. There's no need for anything special. Shape and cut the slab according to your mould then gently press it inside the mould and let it settle into form. At this stage if you'd like your bowl to be taller you can use another slab and attach it to the rim to increase the height. That's exactly what I'm doing in the video. Feel free to follow along step by step. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask in the comments. When attaching the second slab to the main bowl make sure to use plenty of slip and score very carefully. This really depends on your clay and your working style but I personally prefer using a generous amount of slip to ensure strong connections. Next we make the base of the vessel using another slab. This slab will determine the height of the foot. You can choose any height you like. Form it into a cylinder just as you see in the video. Once all the parts are ready let everything rest until it reaches the right leather hard stage. When the bowl is firm enough carefully remove it from the mould and attach the base to the bottom of the bowl. After that let the piece rest again for about a day or longer depending on your environment, humidity and clay type. When the clay reaches the right leather hard consistency I cut several irregular and asymmetrical shapes from paper. Using a damp sponge I attach these paper shapes onto the surface of the bowl. You can use thicker or more textured paper if you have it. It will make the process easier. I didn't have the ideal paper in my studio so I worked with a softer one which made the process a bit more challenging. At the same time we need a slip made from a different clay colour than the main body. I chose white clay. If you don't already have slip prepared you can dry some white clay, crush it into powder, mix it with water and make a smooth slip. Apply this contrasting slip over the surface using a sponge or brush. Once that's done gently remove the paper pieces from the surface and a beautiful textured pattern will appear. I intentionally didn't smooth out the seams or score marks. As you saw I scored the entire surface and left it raw because I wanted this texture to remain visible. However you can choose to fully smooth and clean the surface before applying the second layer of clay if that suits your style better. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and found it useful. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments. To support my work please subscribe to the channel and share this video with friends who are interested in ceramics.