Making lugs for casseroles

You can see my casserole handles at this link (or go to my homepage at the bottom of this message and navigate to the catalog):

's not easy to explain how to make them (I'm working on making a how-tovideo about many of my techniques).Essentially, though, you pull out a ring the diameter of the casserole,shape the ring to resemble the handle you want, and cut it off the largermass of the ring with a needle tool. When it's leather hard, cut it intosections and attach it onto the casserole. The reason I do it this way isthat it is thrown at the same time as the casserole, so it will fit thecasserole without cracking off from drying, as can occur with pulledhandles.

Brad Sondahl

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I either roll or extrude a cylindrical piece of clay and then either make a number of lengthways indents with a ruler, twist the cylinder so that they spiral, and cut to length and attach, or roll the cylinder the wrong way on a grater or on a piece of embossed wallpaper to give it a texture and cut to length and attach. Incidentally if you lightly scrub both mating surfaces with a wet toothbrush it scores the surfaces AND creates enough slip to join them. It's quick and saves knife scoring, which can be laborious, and keeping pots of slip around, which have a habit of drying out just when you need them! I've never had a joint made that way fail on me.

Steve

In article , Chari writes

Hey, I'm going to have to try that one! I always keep an old toothbrush in my tool box for spattering stains and glazes, but I never even thought of using it for scoring and slipping. Good idea...

Deb R.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions--I can't wait to try them out in the studio!

Best, Chari