Ceramic Herb Planter Slab

Series Summary

Ceramics are art works made out of clay bodies that harden with the application of heat. Originating in Chinese, Cretan, Greek, Roman, and Mayan cultures, ceramics have a long history that dates back to the third millennium BC. Pottery was used to create food and water jars, decorative bowls, sacred urns, and religious idols. Potters most traditionally use their hands, but several tools have been developed to aid in the ceramic making process, including the potter's wheel. Ceramics range from functional vessels to decorative sculptures, and remain both a long loved craft as well as a fine art. Know someone with a green thumb? A homemade ceramic herb planter would be the perfect gift for them. In this free ceramics video series, a master potter will demonstrate how to make a completely unique planter with handles and decorative details. Learn how to create a slab base, how to throw the walls on the potter's wheel, and how to attach the two into a solid piece. Find out ways to personalize it using a freeform approach and decorative shapes. Perfectly shaped to sit on a windowsill, this ceramic herb planter is a simple creative gift for your favorite gardener.

Video Transcript

"Alright we're going to make an herb planter, a little something you that can sit up in your windowsill. Give to your mom, she'd really like it. Go ahead and what we're going to do is we're going to make a slab. And then from the slab we're going to start constructing some walls. And it's going to be kind of like a shallow, it's kind of like a shallow casserole dish. But it's going to be shaped differently, so we want to start with the bottom, alright? And how you make a slab when you don't have a thirty thousand dollar slab roller, you just use your hands, let it free. And your work table which I hope you built yourself, so it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg to do this stuff. Alright so this is all you have to do, just start throwing it out like that okay? Slapping it down, throwing it out. Try not to make a big mess. Make it a little wider, don't make it too wide because this is going to go in a windowsill hopefully. So you see, just making my slab, making my slab just like that. And now we have a slab to work with."