My Roller’s Coming!

A Company Pic Of My New Slab Roller

Remember back in the day that I was talking about rolling out slabs with my rolling pin? Well that’s about to change very soon. Bobby asked me a while ago to do some research on slab rollers and wanted me to figure out which one I wanted. I did my research letting him know the details of the one I wanted and he purchased that slab roller yesterday, thank you so much darlin’. It should arrive in 7 business days and what a treat that will be. The slab roller will produce slabs up to 4 foot long and I can hardly wait! All I have to do on my end is turn that wheel which is a piece of cake and let the machine do all the work. I can adjust the appropriate thickness of the slab and it will do just that. The studio out at the Lockheed Rec Center has the same one I’m getting and I love it, so I kinda already know what I’m getting, a great machine!

Rolling slabs out the manual way entailed so much effort. First things first, It’s always necessary to have a slab with even thickness. In order to do that the old fashioned way, which many potters do, you need to have two long slats the same thickness (I like slabs ¼ inch thick, thus the thickness of my slats) placed on both sides of the clay body. When the pin starts to reach the level of the slats you know your slab is just about the right thickness. I continue to roll the pin till it glides over the slats and the slab is finally to the appropriate thickness. Once I get to that point manually, I feel I’ve done a days work and need a rest. Well almost, but in all seriousness, my new machine will produce slabs so fast and take all the effort out of it for me.

Today I will busy myself in my studio cleaning out bookshelves and preparing to move those out in order to make room for my new roller that I will welcome with open arms.

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