Skip to content
Slab building is one of the most approachable ways to begin making pottery. You don’t need to master the pottery wheel, and you can create everything from mugs and bowls to vases and decorative pieces using just a rolled out piece of clay.
But while slab pottery looks simple, a few small mistakes can lead to cracks, weak joins or pots that lose their shape. These five beginner pottery tips will help you build stronger, neater pieces, and give them a much better chance of surviving the kiln.
1. Compress Every Slab
Once you’ve rolled out your clay, compress both sides of the slab using a smooth rib.
Move the rib firmly across the clay in several directions, applying enough pressure to smooth and compact the surface without making the slab thinner. Turn the slab over carefully and repeat on the other side.
Compressing helps align and strengthen the clay particles. It also removes small surface imperfections and reduces the likelihood of cracks developing as your pot dries.
This is an easy step to skip when you’re excited to start building, but it can make a noticeable difference to the strength and finish of your slab pottery.
2. Score All Your Joins
Whenever two pieces of clay need to be attached, score both joining surfaces first.
Use a scoring tool, fork or serrated rib to scratch a cross-hatched texture into the clay. The aim is to create enough texture for the two pieces to grip one another.
Scoring is particularly important when attaching:
- Mug handles
- Bases to walls
- Decorative elements
- Joins on cylindrical forms
- Feet, knobs and embellishments
Simply pressing two smooth surfaces together may appear to work initially, but the pieces can separate as the clay shrinks during drying or firing.
3. Use Slip
After scoring both surfaces, brush a small amount of slip onto the scored areas before pressing them together.
Slip acts as a clay based glue, helping the two pieces form a secure bond. Once joined, press the pieces together firmly and smooth the seam with your finger or a suitable pottery tool.
You don’t need to drown the join in slip. Too much can make the area wet, messy and difficult to control. A small amount worked into the scored texture is usually enough.
For particularly important joins, such as the handle on a clay slab mug, you can add a thin coil of soft clay along the seam and blend it carefully into both surfaces for extra support.
4. Dry Your Pottery Slowly
Many cracks appear during drying rather than firing.
Clay shrinks as it loses moisture. If one part of your pot dries faster than another, the difference in shrinkage creates tension, and that tension can cause cracking, warping or separating joins.
Place finished pots under loose plastic and allow them to dry gradually. For the first day or two, you may want to keep the plastic almost completely closed. You can then open it little by little as the piece becomes firmer.
Pay particular attention to:
- Handles, which can dry faster than thick mug walls
- Rims and thin edges
- Bases resting on absorbent boards
- Added decorations
- Thick joins and reinforced seams
Turning the pot occasionally or placing it on a small rack can also help air circulate more evenly. Pottery rewards patience, so resist the temptation to rush this stage.
5. Keep the Thickness Even
An even slab is easier to build with, dries more consistently and is less likely to crack or distort.
Thickness guides are a simple way to achieve this. Place two wooden guides of the same depth on either side of your clay, then roll until the rolling pin rests on both guides. This prevents you from accidentally creating very thin areas.
Your slab does not need to be perfectly uniform down to the mm. Handmade pottery can (and should!) retain some character. The goal is simply to avoid dramatic changes in thickness, such as a heavy base attached to paper-thin walls.
If your design intentionally includes thicker elements, give the finished piece extra time to dry so that moisture can leave the clay evenly.
Stronger Pots Start With Good Habits
The most useful beginner pottery techniques are often the simplest:
Compress, score, slip, dry slowly and keep your clay thickness even.
Following these five steps won’t remove every surprise from the pottery process, clay likes to keep us humble, but they will prevent many of the most common slab-building problems.
If you’re ready to practice these techniques, try using a slab pottery template for your next project. A template takes care of the measurements and shapes, leaving you free to concentrate on building strong joins, refining your form and adding your own creative details.
Once these habits become part of your process, you’ll be able to approach new slab pottery ideas with much more confidence.