1. Study of Popular Architectural Styles of Houses in America
Slab Clay Houses
Study of Popular Architectural Styles of Houses in America

2. Planning our House
Begin by deciding on an architectural style that you like and think would work for this art experience.
Mark your shapes very lightly on the surface of the clay.

3. Slab Clay Houses
When you are satisfied with your design begin cutting out your shapes.

4. Slab Clay Houses
Save all the scrap clay from the cut out, it will be used to add details to your house. Your style house might require shutters on the windows, a porch, awning, etc.

5. Slab Clay Houses
Follow the usual procedure for attaching clay pieces. First score the clay in both places where it will make contact.

6. Slab Clay Houses
I always tell my students it should look like it was in a cat fight with scratch marks that break the clay surface.

7. Slip
Then add a generous amount of slip to both scored areas. Press the two clay parts together. If you used enough slip it should be oozing out the sides.

8. Slab Clay Houses
Object like this bottle cap can be pressed into the clay to make a circle for a round window.

9. Texture and Details
Architectural details can be added with a wide variety of tools. Here in this example a rounded clay tool was pressed into the clay to resemble fish scale shingles that appeared on Victorian houses.

10. Greenware
Your finished house will take about a week to dry. Next it will be fired and then we will add the finishing touches with acrylic paint or ceramic glaze.

11. Finishing Your House If you are using ceramic glaze, work
carefully making sure
that you do not
overlap colors. You
will need to use
various size brushes to
get glaze into the
incised lines.

12. Finishing Your House The edges of the house may be glazed
but do not get any
glaze on the back of
the house.
The house will be fired
on stilts to keep it
from adhering to the
kiln shelf.

13. Glazed Finish
This house was finished in ceramic glazes. This requires the pottery to be fired a second time. Colors must be painted separately and can not be paint over each other.

14. Acrylic Finish
Acrylic paint gives a more dull finish but provides you with the options of creating more colors by mixing the paint. The paint isn’t fired and can be taken home immediately.