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build a slab roller

updated mon 5 feb 01

 

Jeremy McLeod on tue 30 jan 01


Jim Stamper wrote:

> I would like to build a slab roller for my studio. I need it to be a
> specific size to fit. Anty one have any suggestions on where to find some
> good plans?

Plans, no. Observations, yes. I sat and looked at a slab roller with it's cables

running outside the frame, looped over a pair of pipes above and below the
frame. It took a short while, but once the looping pattern that made the
thing work got clearly embedded in my brain, it was a simple matter to
figure out the sorts of materials I'd need to make a servicable slab roller
for myself.

Bottom line... Find a slab roller in a store or someone's studio and study it.
They aren't all that complicated.

Jeremy McLeod

Sherry Spickes on tue 30 jan 01


Jim,

There is a book (out of print now) called :"Getting into Pots". I forget the
author. I was able to find it at our lending library (Calvert County, Maryland).
If you can find a copy, there is a home built slab roller there. Works really
well. I've (my husband, that is) build two now, one for me and one for a potter
friend.

Good luck.

Sherry

Jim Stamper wrote:

> I would like to build a slab roller for my studio. I need it to be a
> specific size to fit. Anty one have any suggestions on where to find some
> good plans?
>
> thanks
>
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Jim Stamper on tue 30 jan 01


I would like to build a slab roller for my studio. I need it to be a
specific size to fit. Anty one have any suggestions on where to find some
good plans?

thanks

Ken Kang on wed 31 jan 01


> I would like to build a slab roller for my studio. I need it to be a
> specific size to fit. Anty one have any suggestions on where to find some
> good plans?
>
> thanks
>
You can see pictures of my home made slab roller that can be made to any
size at: http://members3.clubphoto.com/ken258580

Aloha, Ken

Debbie Smith on wed 31 jan 01


My husband built me a slab roller last year. It works great and was very
reasonable to build. The plans for building it were in a book called,
Getting Into Pots by George and Nancy Wettlaufer. I found a copy at our
local Junior Collage library. Good Luck

Jeanne Stolberg on wed 31 jan 01


Jim Stamper wrote:

> I would like to build a slab roller for my studio. I need it to be a
> specific size to fit. Anty one have any suggestions on where to find some
> good plans?

Jim, there is an article in Feb. 1977 issue of Ceramics Monthly by George
and Nancy Wettlaufer on constructing a slab roller. It's a small portable
one, the base board being about 32"x48". I don't have any experience with
this one - never built one myself - but maybe a place to start, get some
ideas from.

Jeanne S.
Sitka, Alaska

Paul Bailey / Janet Moe on wed 31 jan 01


Sherry Spickes wrote: There is a book (out of print now) called :"Getting into
Pots". I forget the author.

> The author is "Wettlaufer". I had one of these built for me and used it for about
> 15 years, making LOTS of slab pots!

Janet on the British Columbia coast, a handbuilder waiting for my new Pacifica wheel
to arrive this week, about to learn how to throw!

Paul Lewing on thu 1 feb 01


Neil Berkowitz wrote:

> Check the archives too. There was some discussion on this roller on Clayart
> a year or two ago, and I seem to remember someone (Paul Lewing, perhaps?)
> mentioning an improvement the poster made over the years the roller was in
> use.

Yikes, I've been outed! Yes, I have been giving out these plans for
years in my tile-making workshops. So either find someone who has taken
one of my workshops and has a copy, or hire me to come do the workshop
at your school!
Seriously though, I, like Greg Lamont, get requests all the time for
these plans and I usually send them out for a dollar and a SASE. But
please don't do that. Greg's idea of posting them on some web site so
you can download them is a great idea. I just sent him a message about
this, and if he can't do it, I have a friend who can. I have no scanner
and my 10-year-old Mac doesn't like the Web. So just be patient, and
we'll get them up there some time soon. I'll let you know when they're
up. Maybe the SUCAWS site would be appropriate? Don't know the
address, though.
Paul Lewing, Seattle

Neil Berkowitz on thu 1 feb 01


The ISBN number is 0-13-354704-3 (or -4 for the hardcover) but I don't know
whether the book is still in print. My paperback copy is from 1976, so the
plans in the CM article (mentioned in another reply) are likely to be either
the same or slightly revised. The authors are George and Nacy Wettlaufer.

Check the archives too. There was some discussion on this roller on Clayart
a year or two ago, and I seem to remember someone (Paul Lewing, perhaps?)
mentioning an improvement the poster made over the years the roller was in
use.

Neil Berkowitz

----- Original Message -----

> Jim,
>
> There is a book (out of print now) called :"Getting into Pots". I forget
the
> author. I was able to find it at our lending library (Calvert County,
Maryland).
> If you can find a copy, there is a home built slab roller there. Works
really
> well. I've (my husband, that is) build two now, one for me and one for a
potter
> friend.
>
> Sherry
>
> Jim Stamper wrote:
>
> > I would like to build a slab roller for my studio. I need it to be a
> > specific size to fit. Anty one have any suggestions on where to find
some
> > good plans?
> >

Timakia@AOL.COM on sun 4 feb 01


Interestingly we just talked about this slab roller to build this week. I
would also appreciate info on this please Paul. If yuou do not mind, let us
all know. I am willing to pay for plans.

Antoinette Badenhorst
PO Box 552
Saltillo,MS
38866
http://hometown.aol.com/timakia

Paul Lewing on sun 4 feb 01


Timakia@AOL.COM wrote:
>
> Interestingly we just talked about this slab roller to build this week. I
> would also appreciate info on this please Paul. If yuou do not mind, let us
> all know. I am willing to pay for plans.

Antoinnette,
I have an original copy of the Feb. '77 CM article that showed these
plans. I am planning on putting it up on the SUCAWS web site (now that
Veena Ragavan has sent me the address for posting stuff - thanks,
Veena!) or some other web site. However, I don't have a scanner, or
very good web access. What I do have is a 10-year-old Mac and the flu.
So probably after I get rid of my fever and get through the 9-day show I
have coming up in less than two weeks, I'll get to that. I hope you can
wait that long. I'll let you know when it's up there.
Paul Lewing, on his way back to bed in Seattle.