Fig. 11
Fig. 12
two sticks and a rolling pin. Create your
14" x 11" slab on a small piece of canvas
placed over a ware board. For a bit of visual
interest, you can texture your slab by pressing a sheet of embossed wallpaper across its
surface (Fig. 5). After decorating, you’ll then
have to flip your slab over and onto another
canvas-coated ware board. Why? Because
during the next step, your muffin cups are
going to be attached to the undecorated
side of your slab. (If you’re not decorating
your slab, this additional flip-step isn’t necessary.) It’s a building process, and decorating your slab is just one of the many options
you have when making your pan. Set your
slab aside and move your demo back to the
wheel and your eight leather-hard cups.
of each cup at the points diagrammed as
small circles in your drawings. Place one
small ball of clay at each point, and use your
short piece of wooden dowel to press each
ball tightly to both the slab and the cup wall
(Fig. 8).
Trimming, Assembly,
and Finishing
Before you attach your cups to the slab, the
base of each cup will need to be trimmed,
or lightly ‘skimmed’ round and smooth. Using your 1-lb. piec e of clay, throw a ½" thick
trimming pad on your wheelhead and use
your rib tool to flatten and skim it dry. Attach each of your leather-hard muffin cups
to the pad, then trim and smooth each foot
edge, one after the other (Fig. 6). Next, take
your cups and your bowl of water back to
your work table for ‘Handbuilding: Part 2.’
With your cup rims now in place and marginally attached to the slab, use the last
piece of clay listed in the supplies list on
p. 27 to make 18 small balls, each about
½" in diameter. Use a small, wet sponge to
dampen the slab and the lower wall area
Next, use a small cookie cutter or your
fettling knife to punch or cut a small hole
through the slab at the center of each cup
(as in Fig. 9). This releases the trapped air
caught between the cups and the slab, and
makes the next step a bit easier.
Now use a large cookie cutter or a fettling
knife and, as carefully and cleanly as possible, cut away all the slab clay that covers
each cup opening (Fig. 9). Trim all the way
to the inside rim of each cup without cut-
As with every project you demo in class, there
are usually lots of creative options. Part of my
personal clay philosophy is, “There’s no right
or wrong way to make pots — there are only
different ways.” Sharing this outlook with
my students has certainly opened doors and
pushed the envelope of creativity, overall.
Some options to share with your class when
making muffin pans? I can think of lots of them,
like: making a circular, thrown slab instead of
using one that has been rolled out and squared
... or leave a random, loose edge on your rolledout slab to give it a more ‘clay-like’ look ... or
add handles to your pan ... or make muffin pans
with only two or four cups ... or, keeping the
recipe amount in mind, reduce the thrown size
of each cup, and make a cupcake-like pan with
eight cups in the layout. As I said — lots of ideas.
“So, decide what size and style of muffin pan you’re going to make, follow the
needed measurements drawn on the board,
prep your clay, and let’s go to work!” [
* Bill
Thisvan
article
is a “20th
Anniversary
Flashback”
Gilder
has been
a full-time
potterreprint
since from
the
the Autumn/Winter 2011 issue of CT. For the full Clay Times
1960s and teaches pottery-making workshops. He may
collection of Bill van Gilder’s “Teaching Techniques” how-to
be reached by e-mail at vangilderpottery@earthlink.
pottery project series, visit www.claytimes.com/store.html.
net.more
His about
potters’
Gilder
Tools, isvideos,
available
For
Billtool
andline,
his van
pottery,
workshops,
and
via
the
online
store
at
www.vangilderpottery.com.
potter’s tool line, visit www.vangilderpottery.com
JuMBO PuMPkIn MuFFInS wITh CInnAMOn/nuTMEg TOPPIng
courtesy Buddha’s Baker of Frederick, MD — www.buddhasbaker.com
2½ C all purpose flour
½ C sugar • ½ tsp salt
½ C packed brown sugar
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 extra-large eggs
1 C canned pumpkin (not pie mix!)
½ C buttermilk
¼ C canola oil
1½ tsp vanilla extract
Topping:
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
Preheat oven 375° F. Grease wells and top of jumbo muffin pan with butter or non-stick spray. (Don’t forget to do the top of
the pan.) In a large bowl, combine the first 7 [dry] ingredients. In another bowl, whisk together the next 5 [wet] ingredients.
Gently mix wet ingredients into dry mix, just until blended — don’t overmix! Fill muffin wells 3/4 full. Sprinkle each with
topping. Bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool 5 minutes, then remove from
pan. Let cool on rack. Makes 6.
n AUTUMN
·COM
CLAYTIMES·COM nCLAYTIMES
20TH ANNIVERSARY
• AUTUMN
/ WINTER2011
2015
Again, following the diagrammed measurements on your board, pick up one cup at a
time, dip its rim into water, and position it
onto your slab, firmly pressing each cup rim
tightly to the slab (Fig 7). “Now we’ve got to
create a really secure cup-to-slab attachment. This is actually an easy step — just
work slowly and neatly.”
Before you flip your pan over to finish the
top side — which is the next step — note the
diagrammed measurements again, and cut
away the excess clay from the outer edge of
the slab to define the outside dimensions
of your pan (as in Fig. 8). Place another
ware board over and on top of the bottoms
of your cups; then carefully flip your pan
over and upright, keeping the whole thing
securely sandwiched between the top and
bottom ware boards. Then remove the top
ware board and the canvas.
The last few steps: Use an edge-rounding tool
and your small sponge to round and smooth
the four outside edges of the slab (Fig. 11). You
may want to score a shallow line near the rim
of the slab as a decorating element (Fig. 12),
or use your small wooden dowel to create a
series of small indented notches completely
around the slab edge. Finally, flip your pan
back over and allow it to dry upside down.
In Form I Teaching Techniques
ting into the rims. Work slowly here — repairs
take a lot more time! Then, use your small,
damp sponge to smooth the slab edges where
they meet the inside rims (Fig. 10).
33
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