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How To Make Ceramic Stamped Shields

Step 1

Set up a hump mold. You can use practically any shape of bowl with a protective layer of paper or plastic over it as a mold. I have found that an old pair of panty hose work great at keeping the clay from sticking to a surface. Just make sure that you cover the entire surface that the clay touches before laying the wet clay on it.

Step 2

Roll out the ball of clay into a pancake or slab about 1 inch thick and 12 to 24 inches in diameter either direction with your rolling pin or slab roller. Try to keep the surface smooth and level.

Step 3

Cut a large oval shape out of the clay that is large enough in diameter to cover your hump mold form. You can cut it out with your needle tool or a knife. Use a paper template if you have a specific size or shape that you want to get. Smooth off all of the edges and surfaces of the clay slab with your rib.

Step 4

Gently lift up the oval slab of clay and drape it over your hump mold. Use the rubber rib again to smooth it down to the shape of the mold.

Step 5

Now is the time to try out all of your new stamps! Make patterns across the surface of the clay. Go in several different directions or just follow each line as it goes along. I like to leave some areas blank as contrast and draw on them later with glazing pencils. Think about how you will hang the form when it is finished. I plan to hang mine with wire that goes through holes at the top of the piece.

Step 6

Once you are done stamping your slab and it is bone dry, clean it up one more time by gently brushing off any debris with your fingers or a soft brush. The dry form can be fired to bisque temperature (cone 8 to cone 6) in a kiln. Then glazed and hi fired to cone 10.

Have fun and enjoy your new creations!

Once you have learned to make your own stamps, it is fun to design a project to use them on! Here we will use our roller stamps to make impressions on a large slab of clay that is supported by a hump mold.

Tools and Materials Needed

Large ball of soft clay (about 5 lbs.)
Rolling pin or slab roller
Needle tool (a tooth pick will work in a pinch)
Metal or rubber rib (something flat to smooth with)
Damp sponge (to wipe your fingers)
An assortment of patterned stamps to imprint with
A bowl or hump mold to drape the wet clay over

Rolled out slab about 1/2" thick that has been smoothed out with a metal rib.

A cut slab and a slump mold ready to place the slab over.

Smoothing the slab over the slump mold and getting it ready to imprint.

This is a finished slab that has been through a bisque firing and has been drawn on with glazing pencil.

This is the finished work that has been glazed and fired in a kiln to cone 10. It is titled "Eric".

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