Making a sphere daily using the “slab technique”.

Compared to making spheres this process was a lot slower. I need to wait for the slab to harden just a little before I oculd cut up the squares with 45degree angle slopes, and then wait for them to harden a little further on wooden boards before sticking them together. I initially started with a single type of stoneware (Sandalwood from Claystation). I made the first 3 cubes with the same clay so that I could improve the form with each passing cube.

I used the opportunity to also play with the surfaces of the cubes. Trying out different tectures, slips, underglazes and an oxide wash. The first two cubes (from right to left) played with the idea of perspective and the last one was inspired by the idea of hand poked tattoos and has a copper carbonate wash which should fire green and be reminiscent of the hand poked tattoo colour.

The next cube, I decided to use a dark bodied clay. I made a cube with the Volcanic Black Clay from Claystation, which was extremely plastic and took a lot of time to dry. This required patience, and careful handling. But the end result was fairly “neat”.