hi everyone im hashimoto shinobu, a potter based in sapporo, hokkaido japan. today, i will share the way i make slab-built square plate with you. todays point is how neat you can make square plate as possible as we can. as i observe how my students work, i noticed that their finger print on the surface or their structure warped after fire some people does that intensionally as designed but you can refer my video of today so that you can eliminate those flaws as much as you can in order to do so, first and foremost, do not touch the clay. it sounds oximoron but touch the clay as minimum as possible with minimum process, youll notice that after. i dont do decorative work on surface i do simple shape and texture but i hope this video helps your skill development. i cant emphasize enough that simpleness is the basic of all. i think you can do better decorative jobs or deforming shapes with sturdy understanding of basics. i think making simple and neat thing is the key. well then shall we begin first we knead when we make slab plate well each actions arent so complecated, rather easy but you need to pay attention to many things in order to make it neat looking. when it comes to slab plate, most common issue we have is warps, cracks those kind of issues knead well here is to prevent those issues. cutting the corner on this process, might cause those issues. off course it depends on the nature of clay, atomosophere, etc i think good state of clay is very important so knead well then making it with right process dry right right way of firing thats the way of doing it some wondering how long we should do kneading i cant say how long or how many minutes spicifically i suggest kneading at least 100 times or knead till youre tired, lets say start with this well kneaded clay got even consistancy. well then kneading is a part of my occupation, but to be honest, kneading is tiring after practices youll know how to handle clay then you feel less tiring but i would say kneading is not easy task. hitting to make shape on this phase i hit it this direction you might hit from side, or from bottom many ways of doing it with their own theory lets say now, the stream of particle is like this so hit this way makes particle line this way, this suppose to be good to some kind of shape. this way might be good direction for square shape. this way wight be good to rectangle, as such you may think its too subtle to think about, but i consider those things talking about plate, what shape i should make, square or rectangle what do you think? w well im hitting this way so go with square then. oh wait no, ill go with rectangle ill save square for next video to make square bowl. yes i make rectangle plate dropping action like this make stretch that way. this long plate will be good for fish dishes. i got so many templates. i use plywood for frequent work other than that, use box paper lets see this is it ill make rectangle plate with this template noted " long rectangle plate " date and thickness thickness of work also noted. shape clay to template this phase you dont have to handle with care a lot. most cases i use electric driven machine i hardly make slab with hand like this one by one. im sharing the way of hand making slab one by one today we prepare the board to handle slab then place cloth on board to separate clay to stick to board. then wet the cloth with sponge. to make it shiny place cloth on board, wet cloth like to adhere to the board im doing this to erase the wrinkle of cloth. it will transfer to clay. advantage of this is in the process of stretching clay place the clay on the board. you can slice off the slab, but the clay status wise, its better to be compressed. you can compress with roll-pin or roller machine these are 7mm thick. place dry cloth before stretch to separate clay from roll-pin. i roll with PVC pipe. i like this better to utilize my strength compare to thinner wood rool-pin. roughly, roughly removing excess clay small enough to cover template. smaller makes you less tiring, right? when i make multiple copy i have a option to cut off slabs from thicker slab. that case, i cut 8mm when i aim at 7mm. then roll out to 7mm. so to add compression to clay. stretch again. some people stretching back wards like this but i dont think its effective back wards action doesnt press well. when thicker it might help but at this stage IMO drawing back is not effective. pushing forward is most effective. from middle area to the end turn the board around like you see its easy to handle clay on board. or you can use the corner of table so that you can use 2 diffirent direction. again, remove excess this make life easier. you dont have to work extra, right making slab is a pain and butt. we shouldnt be consumed by this labor. one tip for rolling pin, start lightly then push downward action to make rolled ledge. then find the ledge, and pushing out the ledge part forward inch by inch push only ledge area. just like that push hard all way just consume you as well. bring the ledge to the end try not to consumed by this a lot, w here it is. all stretched out completely. here this is 7mm thick slab. this is neat enough you can refine the surface with ribs optionally. this helps compressing clay as well. at this moment, things i concern when i make slimmer piece like this normally i rib all direction like these then i noticed the slimmer slab plate warps like this im talking about slimmer slab. after glaze fire it warps little. so i rib only one direction on slimmer piece. ribbing multiple direction cause warps on slim slab. just like that so far i didnt touch on surface with my fingers. then flip over first from now on, the order of process may vary depends on material or what to make. i was gonna trim out of template first, but flip the slab first place calcium silicate board on top, flip over then now the slab stick to the wooden board. press down the cloth to separate transfer completed onto calcium silicate board. this is rotating board to make job easier. this is very handy. banding wheel spins too well this tool is good fit to this task. and rib this surface as well this surface was on wet cloth side so still wet. you can remove the water with rib as well. then cut out from template. when you cut, keep vertical. important thing is your posture. keep object right in front of you so that you can see object straight. straight down tip here is keep the same manner, like direction, speed, to make it neat. here it is looks good. so far i didnt touch on surface. surface were contacted with boards or ribs but not with hand. now we compress four each borders. we have several ways to compress. press down with this rib press with this stick press down with sponge from top and side. either way, apply the best way depends on a situation. now i go with sponge. i choose not to compress sometimes. that might be risky but that would be an option too i refined these borders this direction so this time go opposite direction. now you can see i consider the stream of clay particle. i care about the stream of clay particle as much as possible. now compression is complete. on top of that, you can compress the other side as well. im compressing the other side of corner edges. the other way around compressing is done. now we gonna make shape. now we are talking about long rectangle plate, i dont hardly touch my hand on surface. this might not be the conventional way now is the good time to put your signature on. this side is bottom. now i put these sticks on slab. i even have a question in japanese language. is this called "tatala (slab)" or this is called "tatala" im not sure. please let me know if you know the answer. we gonna flip with sticks inserted. stuck this board sticks depends on clays consistency. how i finish the edge varies. all depends on the situation. but the goal is same. the goal here is to compress clay right way. what i doing here is to erase my finger print. am i neurotic or what. then once again well now edges are wet now, these sticks might end up stick to the clay this case i use starch powder as non stick agent. this works perfect. apply thin to avoid lump hope it separates. excellent then make boaders stand. my design to this plate is draw lines here can you see like this placed parallel with distance. then raise this boader with the stick beneath. here you go, just like that you can see the neat line mark by stick. now we have neat rim. this side as well on this action bend gently so that you wont have cracked bottom. just like this no finger prints whatsoever. then first time i manipulate with my hand. the surface is clean and neat as possible now you could finish now but i want to raise this side too cant help touch with my hand to do so the other side too tip here is not to push thumbs down. it cause finger marks. raise with other fingers to integrate the rim toward center you might stop here but to make it better i would like to make rim lines straight. you see a little wobble here. apply this stick here drop the rim line onto it. i think dropping action is better than raising on final adjustment. so raising bit higher then drop into final straight line. i think it is easier way to handle to make final straight line. also this is aesthetic point of view id like to have four corners little higher. using same stick make same height. drop with care leaves no marks. drop this side as well completed!!! lines are all straight and aligned. as you can see there are no marks on the surface. like i said minimum involvement is the key to be neat. like i am showing on this video, even wheel throwing, minimum action is the key. let me make points again to make clay slab neatly, handle clay with something else but hand. handle with tools, boards or ribs, etc.. and flip with board is important. how gentle you treat clay with hand, clay is affected somehow causing unevenness to clay consistancy. use boards to flip many times to refine the surfaces, edges up to bottom, the other way around. so today i shared the way to make rectangle slab-boult plate with you. next video id like to share the way to make square bowl with plaster mold. very neatly w. well then, please look forward to next video, see you next time!!
