Ceramic Cake Stand and Server

Leanne loves clay and creating functional pieces that can be used in social settings. She has dinner parties and frequently uses a cake stand like this one, as well as a fun serving utensil to serve up that yummy dessert.

Materials:

pottery plaster
aluminum flashing
rubber gloves
respirator
mold-making clay
earthenware clay
banding wheel
serrated rib
brush
slip
glaze
kiln

Artist's Note: The trickiest part about making a cake stand is to keep it flat and level during the making process. It seems relentlessly easy to make umbrellas and sloping, gravity-challenged cake stands, and I have found a of couple tricks that help me keep them in the functional world. I work with a plaster mold for support and to allow the tableau to stay flat and dry evenly during the process.

1. Decide on the diameter and shape of the circumference of the cake stand top by drawing out some patterns. Cut out the pattern you like best and set it aside.

2. To make a plaster mold from a handmade positive: Roll some clay with a rolling pin on a round board that is at least 1-inch bigger than the circumference of the pattern. Make sure the thickness of the slab is what you'd like the positive to be and a little bigger than the circumference of the pattern. Trace the pattern onto the clay, remove the pattern, and cut away the excess.

3. Fix any imperfections in the positive, add details such as a beveled edge, and make sure it is level with a carpenter's level.

4. Wrap a piece of aluminum flashing around the round board that houses the positive and clamp it in place. Wrap a coil of clay around the outside of the flashing at the base where it hits the table to ensure no leaking plaster when you pour it in.

5. Prepare the plaster: Using cold water, fill a bucket about half way. (Note: Technically there is an exact measurement of mixing plaster to water by weight so that it comes out the correct density.) Fill the bucket with powdered plaster until it seems sufficiently thick enough (a mound in the middle of the bucket will start to hold shape and not dissolve into the water quickly). Wearing rubber gloves, mix the plaster by hand, breaking up any chunks, and then pour the plaster over the positive, trying to let it run down the side of the aluminum flashing then over the positive so that air bubbles do not form.

6. Agitate the mold by hand to dislodge any air bubbles. Let the plaster set up a few hours, take the positive out, and sand down any hard edges from the plaster mold with a scrubber to prevent chipping later.

7. Place the mold in a hot box to let it dry more quickly, for usually 24 hours. Once the mold is dry, you're ready to build the cake stand in two parts--the pedestal base and the top. Begin with the top.

8. Place the plaster mold on a lazy Susan (banding wheel). Then roll a slab of clay with a rolling pin onto a piece of interfacing (Leanne uses interfacing rather than the traditional canvas because canvas leaves marks). Make sure the slab is bigger in circumference than the mold, but this time the thickness of the slab is only about 1/4 inch. Carefully transfer the slab into the bed of the mold, trim off the excess and discard it to a recycling bin.

9. Shape more clay into a coil, like a long snake. Score the edge of the slab, slip it with a brush, and add the coil around the edge.

10. Pinch the coil into the shape you want the cake stand to eventually be. It can be tricky--remember that you're building upside down and the object will have a different set of design characteristics when right side up. Shape each area, making sure that the edges are not sharp and paying attention to the levelness of the underside so that it looks consistent. Add detail and appendages to give character and line movement that might mimic the frosting and sweet decoration of a cake.

Note: Leanne sometimes works with a hairdryer or propane torch to speed up the drying process while she work. When satisfied with the form, set it aside and move on to the base.

11. Make a decision about the ratio of the diameter of the top to the diameter of the rim and what the diameter of the foot of the base should be. Lay out a coil to that diameter.

12. Roll out a small slab that will be the bottom of the base and attach it to the coil. Build up by adding coils and pinching them into shape with a process of slipping and scoring in between each layer. When you get to the height you want, level it off with a careful hand and a twist of the lazy Susan. Use a board and a carpenter's level to make sure that it is level.

13. Use a slab of clay to create a collar that fits around the inside of the top of the base. Do not attach this, but carefully transfer it back to the underside of the top of the cake stand that was sitting in the mold. Place it in the center and attach it with the slip and score method. This will act as a flange for which the top and base can more securely connect later.

14. Wait for the pieces to become bone dry. Remove the top from the mold and place it in the kiln. The base is fired next to it. Fire them to initial bisque temperatures of 1900 F degrees.

15. After the firing, take them out of the kiln and bring them to the glazing area. Put the top and the base together and make sure they fit.

16. Use a pencil to draw on the pot itself where you want different glazes and designs. Paint the glaze onto the pot, and add glaze to the joint of where the base and the top were separated to allow them to be fused together with glaze in the glaze firing.

17. Once the pot is glazed, very carefully load it into the kiln and fire again. When done and cooled, take the cake stand out of the kiln, wipe it off and enjoy!

Materials:

porcelain clay
stainless pastry server
2-part putty epoxy
angle grinder with metal cutting disc
safety goggles
clamp
glaze
brush
slip
kiln

1. Place the pie server in a vise and use an angle grinder to cut off the existing handle. Remember to wear safety goggles.

2. Design something that will match your cake stand. With the server piece in front of you, pinch and form the porcelain clay into the shape of a hollow handle.

3. Compare it to the existing server to see how the two will flow and fit together. Make sure that the place where they will connect is slightly bigger on the handle. The clay will shrink about 15 percent, so allow for it to shrink and still fit over the nub of the existing server.

4. Place the piece on foam to cushion it while drying. Once it is dry, place it into the kiln and fire it to bisque temperatures, 1900 F degrees.

5. After it is fired and cooled, dip the handle into the glaze, making sure that no glaze gets into the area where the handle will join the server.

6. Rest it in the kiln on a stilt, a three-prong device that allows for a piece to be glazed entirely and not let it stick to the shelf. Fire the kiln to glaze temperatures and let cool.

7. Using a two-part water-based putty epoxy, mix a small amount in equal proportions with fingers and apply a small ball of it inside the space on the handle. Gently push the server into the handle and adjust the placement. Wipe off any stray bits of epoxy with a sponge. Leave it on a piece of foam to set for about an hour.

Website: www.leannemcclurg.com