Clay Times Back Issues Vol. 3 Issue 10 • May/June 1997 | Page 19

Making Pro-Quality Slides of Your Work
TEXT & PHOTOS BY PAUL MAULE

A

ll the care and passion you put
into your work means very little to anybody else if your slides don’t meet a
certain professional expectation. Slides
are how people in the art world represent themselves and communicate.
Although it doesn’t particularly make
sense that images of your work are ultimately of equal or greater importance
than the work itself, this is a harsh reality for those that care to enter the world
of professional art. Whether it be for
publication, acceptance into a graduate
program, entrance into a juried exhibition, or even to get a job in this field,
your slides are the only tangible means
that you have to show others what you
and your art work are about (short of
carrying the actual pieces around and
making personal appointments).
Many artists pay a professional photographer to make their slides, often a
costly proposition. Yet if you build your
own light box and take your own slides,
you may find it more economical, convenient, and consistent in the long run.
For those of you that have built a similar rig, you already know how great a
difference it makes when it comes to
the consistency and quality of your
slides.Unfortunately, many of those that
have the know-how to take professional
slides tend to guard that information
closely (as if the world of ceramic art
would somehow suffer if all slides were
of pro-quality)! But that’s not the case
here. Read on to find out how to make
your own light box and use it to produce your own fine-quality slides.

Front view of light box. Notice how the mat
board frieze doesn’t allow light to spill onto
the back of the blotter backdrop.
MAY/JUNE 1997

Light Box Construction Materials:
• enough plywood to build a 36” high x
24” wide x 21” deep box
• a 24” x 36” sheet of white mat board
or foam core
• 2” finishing nails
• wood glue
• a few big sheets of white blotter
paper
• flat black spray paint
• an all-metal and/or ceramic light fixture
• a 250-watt photo bulb (3200K
rating)
• a reflecting hanging metal lamp shade
• thumbtacks

Top view. I cut a hole and mounted a second
photo lamp and diffusion shade to light taller
pieces. Most of the time, I don’t use the second light. It tends to lessen the gradient effect.

Assembly Instructions:
1. Make the plywood box. Obviously,
you’ll need to leave one side open. Cut
the mat board or foam core into equal
halves, so they cover the inner sides of
the box. Tack them into place at the top
of the box so the tacks are not visible
from the front of the box.
2. Next, cut the blotter into long
pieces the exact inside width of the box.
After cutting the blotter, hang it up vertically. Using a light mist of black spray
paint, spray a gradi