Art by Fuzzy

Pottery, Photography, Design - Brandon "Fuzzy" Schwartz

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Slabs Rolled Here

A new addition to the studio is in place. Earlier today I rolled out the first slab on my brand new North Star Porta Roller!

I bought this little bundle of metal and moxie way back in November. It arrived in two packages:

slab roller arrival

slab roller arrival

I unpacked it and made sure it was uninjured. I was surprised by it’s weight and sturdiness.

slab roller unpacked

slab roller unpacked

The poor thing sat on the workbench in the garage for over a month until the great studio cleaning of 2013 was finished. Now it has found it’s new home down in the basement under the whiteboard.

new slab roller

new slab roller

The first slab:

first slab

first slab

I might need a little practice to become a slab master, but I should move up at least three points on the efficiency scale. I ran the first slab through about 3 times and it came out so even and just the right thickness compared to my previous rolling pin slabs. I think I’m going to like this thing.

I chose the North Star Porta Roller for a few different reasons. First off, it is relatively small for a slab roller. I don’t have room in my clay studio for a full size roller. It is also portable (if you couldn’t tell from the name). I can load it into my little car and transport it wherever I need to go. There were some cheaper slab rollers available but I paid a little more to get a quality piece of machinery. It doesn’t require any boards or shims and it doesn’t use any cables. Just gears, grease and superiority. It should be around a long time. As long as I don’t need any slabs wider than 18″ it should meet my needs… forever?

slabs rolled here

slabs rolled here

Thanks for reading.

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