Art in Smith Center Junior High

8th Grade Slab Forms

For these pieces, the 8th grade artists used a clay that fires to cone 5 (about 2167º F). They developed their own designs, used a slab roller to flatten thin slabs of clay, and cut out pieces for the walls, bottoms, and lids, etc. They then scored (made small marks into) the clay pieces where the pieces would attach to one another, and they used slip (very wet clay) to stick the scored pieces together. After allowing the pieces to dry out, the pieces were fired in the kiln. The artists finished their pieces by glazing them before firing them a second time to cone 05 (about 1888º F).