Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Making Trays with handles













Yesterday was Tray Day. Actually made the 2 days before. At least thats when I formed them by taking a slab and draping it into a mold with an extruded edge. After gently pressing the clay in to the mold with as little water as possible the edges are cut and left to dry a bit.


























After they dry a bit handles are added. When they are dry enough to remove from the mold I bevel the edges on the top. I sometimes do slip trailing on the surface and occasionally a stamp
combined with that.

I use special pieces of wall board cut with notches for the handles to put on top to avoid warping. Then I switch to a heavy weight in the middle to avoid a bottom pucker up so to speak.
Finally after they are dry I bevel the bottom edges and smooth with a damp sponge.
Since I use porcelain this works very well and results in a smooth beveled edge.

I love making these but the take up a lot of drying space and time to dry.

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