How to Sculpt an Ornate Ceramic Platter

Create ornate details into this platter with your fingers, hands and ceramic tools.

All About

Product Ideas

Cat Jarosz of Leicester, N.C., appreciates the art in everyday life and enjoys making ceramic items that are beautiful as well as functional. She has always channeled her energy into creating art. When she started studying pottery, she had all kinds of side jobs to pay the rent, including working at the sewer department. She enjoys living in the Asheville area, which has gone from "having the proverbial tumbleweeds rolling down the street" to a thriving artistic community.

Materials and Tools:

potters wheel
extruder
electric kiln
gas kiln
stoneware clay
porcelain slip
bucket of water
glaze and overspray
needle tool
cutoff wire
templates
sivider wheel
hole punch
calipers
sponge
rubber ribs
sanding wheel
air compressor
airbrush
wax
50-grit sandpaper
green scrubbies
trimming tool
brush
dye bottle (for squeezing dots of slip)
wedging table
bat and bat pins
cutting blade and various carving tools
slip
respirator
wire for hanging

Figure A

Steps:

1. Cut about 18 lbs. of clay off a 25-lb. square block using the cutoff wire.

2. Wedge the clay on the wedging table to condition and preshape it before throwing it on the wheel.

3. Firmly attach the clay onto a bat that has been attached to the wheel head via bat pins.

4. Have a bucket of water and sponge at the wheel to lubricate the clay in the throwing process. Slowly turn the wheel, building up speed as you get a feel for how well attached the clay is to the bat. Center the clay using fast speeds and by pressing down with the heel of your hand while pushing inward with the other hand.

5. Flatten the clay into a pancake shape the desired width of the platter bottom.

Figure B

6. Poke a hole in the middle of the pancake with your fingers to move the wall a little bit to check the thickness of the bottom and make adjustments. Leave enough thickness for a hefty foot rim to be trimmed later. Use the bottom of a screwdriver and a needle tool to help compress and to check the thickness of bottom. The thickness should be approximately 3/8 inch.

7. Use your fingers and hands to pull or push the walls outward leaving the bottom as flat and even as possible. Run a rib back and forth to compress the bottom. This is an important step as the base is under tremendous stress when drying and may crack if not tended to properly. Add a detail swirl to the middle of the platter by pressing one finger starting in the middle of the bottom and as the wheel turns lifting up. It forms a nice swirl.

Figure C

8. Pull up the walls of the bowl.

Use your fingers, knuckle and a sponge with water to squeeze and pull the mound of clay upward.
It takes three or more pulls to thin this area out and attain the height.
After every pull compress the rim to give it strength.

9. Flatten the standing wall outward and downward with the palm of your hand to make the wide rim. Remove excess clay on the bottom of the platter with a hook tool.

Figure E

10. Make an indentation mark that separates the rim from the bottom visually with another small hand tool.

11. The platter is now set aside to dry enough so it will not distort when the divider wheel is used to mark out the location of the handle cut outs.

12. Cut a half circle shape in the clay where the handles will be placed. Carve swirls in the rim of the bowl using a carving tool.

Figure G

13. Apply four-pointed star shapes of slip from a squeeze bottle in a pattern around the rim of the platter. Tint additional slip with iron oxide to give it a rich brown color and apply dots of slip from a squeeze bottle between the designs. Cover the platter with plastic and let it dry to a leather-hard stage.

Figure H

14. Place the platter back on the wheel on a clean bat and trim a foot rim on the bottom.

15. Compress the foot rim for strength and smooth with a rubber rib.

Figure J

16. Mark the holes for hanging with a needle tool. Flip the platter back over and poke holes through the foot rim with a hole punch.

17. Run conditioned clay through an extruder using a template to make the handles. Lightly trace around the area of the handles on the platter with a needle tool, and then use a serrated rib to scratch the clay areas where the handle joins the rim. Apply slip and attach the handles.

18. Add extra clay around the handles and shape it with your fingers. Carve details around the handles.

Figure K

19. Cover the platter in plastic to even out the moisture content and dry it slowly to a bone-dry stage. This will take approximately 30 days.

20. Lightly sand the platter with a green scrubby. Blow off any dust with an air compressor and air nozzle.

21. Load the platter into an electric kiln to bisque fire — slow-fire the platter to 1940 degrees F.

22. Remove the platter from the kiln. Apply wax to the foot rim.

23. Mix glazes and dip the whole ceramic platter into the glaze. Remove it. Wearing a respirator and working outside, airbrush the piece to add more color. Let it dry for a full day.