Slab building with clay is one of the core techniques that every clay artist needs to master. Simply put, slab building is the action of connecting two flattened pieces of clay together, either while they are wet, or stiffened (if necessary). A rule of thumb is: don’t let your slabs stiffen more than necessary. It’s always easier to join two wet pieces of clay together (compared to leatherhard pieces), so if you don’t need the clay to be rigid when you are building, joining your slabs together when they are wet will usually be easier. The two primary methods of slab construction are usually referred to as “soft slab” and “stiff slab” for obvious reasons.

The following video is IUS Ceramics professor, Sydney Ewerth demonstrating how to build with soft slabs.

Related demonstration videos about working with slabs are:
– Rolling out a small slab
– Using the slab roller