Clay, of course, the amount depends on your mold and chosen configuration

A Basic Pottery Tool Kit

A Drape or Slump Mold

A Clay Friendly Place to Work(a canvas covered board works well)

Rolling Pin or Slab Roller

Newspaper

Plastic, Garbage Bags or Dry Cleaning Plastic is Perfect

The following instructions assume you have had at least a brief introduction to handbuilding with clay although these instructions are meant for the beginner a total newbie to clay might find these instructions lacking in total thoroughness as some knowledge of clay handling is assumed.

A slump or drape mold can be near about anything you can slump clay into or drape clay over.

Slump Mold- A plastic bowl from your local dollar store can make a fabulous slump mold. Any concave depression can make a slump mold. Just remember the slump mold must not come back in on it continuous curve...What does that mean? The shape of the object you use for the mold must flare open, not curve back into the opening or undulate(have a lot of ins and outs) throughout the from. No part of the object used must be wider than the opening at the top of the object.

Drape Mold- A drape mold can be a simple as a mound of stuff, perhaps a pile of balled newspaper mounded and taped together. A continuous curved convex form is perfect, a wok turned upside down is great. Also it doesn't have to be round, baking pans turned upside down can make great drape forms. The drape mold must not get smaller at the bottom of the form than the widest point above it. Perhaps an example is in order.

An bad example of an object to use as both a slump or a drape mold would be a rounded glass fish bowl, a fish bowl has a lovely curve but the curve curves into itself making it unsuitable for a slump mold. It also makes it unsuitable for a drape mold(if you don't use care) as if you turn it over to use its convex surface the curve curves inward at the bottom making it impossable for clay draped over it and modeled close to the surface of the fish bowl to be removed.

Now this fish bowl could be used as a slump mold if care was taken not the model your clay around that bottom curve...the same care needs to be taken with ball like forms with exception of inflatable ball forms. Balloons and beach balls make great drape form as you can model your clay around the bottom curve and then when the clay was ready you could pop the balloon or deflate the beach ball.

Oh course, there are commercially made slump and drape molds. Often these are made from plaster. The nice thing about plaster molds is that they absorb the mosture from your clay so the form dries faster...the bad thing about plaster molds is that they absorb the mosture from your clay so the form dries faster. Drying fast can be a good thing and a bad thing...more about this later.

Now for both the slump and drape mold we need to roll out a slab. Use more clay than you think you will need as you can alway cut off extra rolled clay but adding more is more difficult. Now you need to roll it both wide and long enough to cover your mold, I find 1/4 of an inch thick is a good thickness for your slab to be for slumping and draping. So using your slab roller or rolling pin roll out your slab, remember if you are using a rolling pin it is a good idea to roll your slab on a clay friendly surface such a canvas covered board so it won't stick to the surface you are rolling on.

Now comes a decision, what shape do you want your slab? You can cut any shape to drape or slump. Perhaps a heart or star shape is what you want maybe something free form. Cut what ever shape you want and think will look good on your chosen mold. If you want a specific shape try drawing the outline out on paper first and then place paper on surface of clay slab and with your needle tool perforate the paper periodically making sure to poke the clay. Follow the lines you drew til you have perforated the entire design, now lift paper and connect the dots incising the clay with your needle tool. Go back once again and follow your incised line, this time cutting all the way thru the clay to cut out the shape of your bowl or platter.

Once we have our slab rolled out and cut we might want to add texture to the slab or perhaps incise a design into the surface. Now you can either add your texture before you place the clay on the mold or after but remember on a slump mold if you want texture or designs on the outside of your bowl or platter you need to create the texture or design before you lay it in your mold and similarly with the drape mold if you want your texture or design on the inside of your bowl or platter you need to also create it before you place it on the mold. Texture or design on the inverse side of the slab can be made either before the slab is placed or after.

Texture can be added by impressing lace, burlap, netting or other fabrics into the surface of the clay. Maybe play with the marks shells make in clay and press them into the clay in a interesting pattern. Do you have any clay stamps? they would work fine. Also lots of everyday objects make great textures in clay. If you want to incise a drawing or perhaps writing into your clay, use your needle tool from your basic tool kit to incise your marks or shallowly carve your marks with the ribbon or loop tool from your kit.

Now comes the time to place your slab in or on your mold. Place newspaper down on your canvas board and place mold on newspaper. If using a mold that is something other than plaster line or cover the mold with plastic to make removal of the form easier . If using a plaster mold to slow down drying time, line or cover your mold with plastic. If you don't need a slow drying time and can check your form often no need for the plastic between plaster mold and clay.

Now gently pick up slap using care not to distort its shape and place. If a using slump mold, to place slab you might find placing one end of the clay slab down in your slump mold easier, then gentle lay the rest of the slab in the mold and smooth any wrinkles you do not desire. The wrinkles themselves could become a design element...experiment.

If using a drape mold use the same care in picking up the slab and place it center down first on your mold. and smooth out the clay to the edges. Like the slump mold the clay wrinkles and undulations could become a design element before smoothing see if you like what the clay has done on its own.

If you haven't finish texturing or patterning the clay now is the time to do so. Also look critically at the slab and clean up any rough edges with a wet sponge(found in your kit) or wet finger. Now drape your clay filled or clay covered mold with plastic and wait for it to get leather hard. Remember if using a plaster mold check often as the plaster absorbs the moisture from the clay so the clay dries faster. Drying time will depend on weather, type of plastic used to drape, air conditioning and all kinds of other environmental conditions.

If you used a slump mold, removal of your form is rather easy. Gently turn the mold over supporting the inner form with your hand and the bowl or platter will fall out of the mold. You can then continue drying the form on its rim or turn it over and dry it on its bottom.

If you are using a drape mold, removal is a bit more difficult. Clay shrinks as it dries and so the clay will have hugged your mold tighter than when you finished making it. If you leave your clay on the mold too long it will start to crack as the clay becomes smaller than the mold it is on so it is important to get to the form at the right time to remove it. If you have plastic between your form and the mold gently pull on the plastic and see if the clay can be lifted off. If you used no plastic gentle loosen the clay from the mold all around the edge careful not the crack or tear the slab, now see if the clay will lift off the mold, be very gentle. Gently lift the clay off place up right on its feet or pot bottom. Let dry.

• Slump Slab Project
  Making a slab platter from the DYI website.
• Cosmic Water Dish
  Project using a plaster slump mold.
• Summer Fish
  Project using a plaster drape mold.

• Making a Slump Frame
  Make your own frame for making slump platters.

• The Kiln Goddess' Clay Pit
  A resource hub to find clay art related information, tutorials, links, books, and more.
• HandBuilding in Clay
  Like to learn more about general hand building with clay? This page will introduce you to the techniques of pinch, coil, solid build up, and other slab construction methods.

• wrote 1 year ago
  Love it, KG; this is an awesome page!