Looking to learn the basics of handbuilding?

This 2-part course has been designed by Peter Rumble to teach the basics of making and preparing quality slabs for use in hand building as well as the various techniques required to build components.

Experience required
This course open to all, from those new to handbuilding to those looking to sharpen up their handbuilding technique.

Course overview
This course is not about “making stuff”, it is about equipping you with the skills to "make stuff". However, by the end of the course you will have learned the skills to have made a press-moulded bowl, a cuboid with base and lid, a cylinder, a cone and a tetrahedron. They may not be pretty and you may just recycle the clay but they will be a springboard to greater things.

SESSION 1 - WEDS 8 JULY

• Making and preparing slabs

• Slab trimming and knife use

• Making joining slip

• Use of slump moulds and drape moulds

• Making a cylinder

SESSION 2 - WEDS 15 JULY

• Techniques for slab joining

• Preparing and assembling a cuboid (rectangular box)

• Making a tetrahedron

• Making cones

Skills needed
For best outcomes, students should be able to:

• easily read a metric ruler (if not, consider using lightly magnified reading glasses)

• do simple arithmetic

• concentrate and stick to task for 2+ hours

• comfortably handle sharp tools (knife and needle point)