Here's another example of a piece utilizing an "infinite", or indeterminate pattern of colored clay. In this case I just wedged together some "leftover" colored clay bodies- black, along with natural Miller 55 white, and natural Miller 70 (fires brown) and Miller 70 mixed with red iron oxide (fires rich deep red/brown), as well as some Miller 50, which appears gray in it's moist state, but fires to a pleasing tan with dark brown specks in it. A gentle wedging was enough in this instance, more would have made the swirls and stripes smaller and closer together. Some of the elements of "success" in a pattern are evident as well- integrated palate (that is, complimentary colors that work well together), in this example, earth tones. The natural white and Mason stained black added contrast, while the various browns added shading and variety and complexity. I have had a lot of fun playing with boxes. This is formed from 6 equal sized squares, joined into a closed box with beveled 45 degree cuts at the edges which were scored and stuck together with slip. I have had the most success making rigidly geometrical shapes, like a box, using slabs of clay that are just a bit dryer than what is considered "leather hard", so that when joining the pieces together they hold their shape and don't sag or bend too much. But, I like to do all of the preliminary things while the clay is still moist: Wedged, sliced, rolled to an even thickness, smoothed with a smooth metal rib to compress and check for air bubbles (often present in colored clay mixes). After preparing the slab (or slabs) I let it sit uncovered until leather hard. At this point I cut the even sized squares, usually with a cardboard template, and bevel the edges to 45 degrees for a square. As I do that for all six squares, the clay continues to dry and stiffen so that when I am ready to piece it all together it is quite rigid.

For this pot I just took the cube I had formed, and turned it up onto a corner, making it much taller and a surprisingly different beast visually. By measuring from one corner (to be the base) equally up the three seams, marking and then joining the marks with a small straight edge, and then cutting off that corner, a triangular hole is opened at one corner of the cube. Another piece of stiff patterned triangular clay is applied as the base, again using slip. The same process is repeated at the top to form a lid, only this time, save the cut off corner and apply another slightly larger triangle to create the base of the lid, and another smaller triangle cut to match the size of the opening in the cube body top opening, which will sit inside that opening and help keep the lid in place. For brevity's sake, which I will now forgo, I left out a few steps.... when applying slip to the edges to be pieced together, it's important to use enough to achieve a strong bond, but not so much that tons of it gets squeezed out as the edges are pressed together. You do want to see some pressed out, that means that you have filled all of the score marks and cracks and spaces between the two edges. And with either just the right amount or with too much, you will have cleaning of excess slip to contend with, both inside and on the outside of the pot. I like to do it as I make each joint- the clay is partially dry now and sucks to moisture out of the slip very quickly, so I like to get it off of the surfaces where it will mar the original colored clay pattern as soon as possible. I use a smooth rib, or a flat piece of cardboard, or an appropriate shaped wooden clay tool, and finally for the last "clean-up" a paint brush dipped in water (most useful on the inside of pots where its hard to get your hands and tool into) I also gently paddle all of the seams from the outside (the application of slip to the edges softens the leather hard clay where it makes contact, I usually wait a while for the edges to firm up again before paddling). After cutting both the triangular base opening and the triangular lid opening, I use a Sure-Fine wood shaping tool to make sure that the edges are all on one plane, and facing up or down as the case may be to make sure that as much contact between the body and base and lid is possible.