How to Make a Squared Box on the Potter's Wheel Brian Westrick

The key to making a box is precise timing. This process typically takes 4–5 days to complete construction, and an equal amount of time for drying. Working in stages and allowing the components to rest overnight has minimized cracking and warping. 

Building the Box Body 

Begin by marking four equal sections on a bat. These marks will help you determine the location of the four corners of the box during the altering process. 

To form the body of the box, throw a bottomless cylinder with a concave curved side using approximately 4 pounds (1.8 kg) of clay (1). In order to trim in a gallery later, leave a thick band of clay (approximately twice the thickness of the cylinder’s walls) where you intend to bisect the cylinder to create the bottom and top sections. In this example, this thick band of clay is approximately ⅔ of the way up from the bottom of the cylinder at its narrowest point. Make a small mark on the exterior of the cylinder to indicate this point. 

Run the tip of your index finger vertically inside the cylinder at each of the four marked points, pushing slightly outward. This will indicate where the corners of the box will be. Cut the cylinder off the wheel. Use your hands to squeeze the cylinder into a rough square shape and further define the corners (2). At this point, it is only important to get it close to a square. 

Throwing the Bottom and Top 

Throw a slab of clay to become the bottom of the box. The thickness should match the thickness of your thrown cylinder. Create throwing marks on this slab that match the throwing marks inside your cylinder (3). This visual language will help create cohesion between the components of the box. Throw a second slab to be used for the top of the box. This slab should be slightly thicker than the cylinder walls, as it will be stretched when it is slumped. Allow the thrown cylinder and both thrown slabs to dry for a few hours, then cut both slabs off the bats. 

After the clay has set up slightly, place the cylinder on top of the first thrown slab (for the bottom of the box) and place the second thrown slab upside down into the thrown cylinder (throwing marks face upward). Encourage the slab to slump into the cylinder using your hands or a small sandbag. The goal is to create a concave parabolic shape. Cover all components with plastic and allow them to sit overnight and homogenize. 

Attaching the Bottom 

Place the cylinder on the first thrown slab and trace its outline (4). If only the corners of your squared cylinder are touching the slab, trim some clay off the thrown cylinder until it sits flat. There shouldn’t be any visible gaps between the body and base slab. Mark the interior and exterior perimeters of the cylinder. This lets you know where to slip and score the pieces together. 

Cut the excess off the thrown slab and bevel the edges at a 45-degree angle, making a sharp tapered corner along the perimeter. Next, flip the cylinder over and bevel the bottom edges at a 45-degree angle, with the slope toward the interior of the box. This will maximize the surface area of the attachment. Test fit the pieces to ensure a good fit, then score and slip the pieces together (5). Compress the connection points and reinforce the interior seam with a thin coil of clay. 

Attaching the Top 

Place the second thrown slab so that it is centered on top of the cylinder body, with the dome facing downward (6). Trim off the excess clay with a sharp knife. As with the bottom, bevel both pieces at 45 degrees, with the slope of the cylinder tapering into the center of the box (7). 

Carefully cut the thrown slab to match the bevel. Place the slab on top of the cylinder, dome facing upward, and check that there are no gaps between the pieces. Score and slip both pieces, attach them together, and compress the connection with a soft rib or pony roller (8). The interior will be reinforced with a coil in a later step. Let the box rest under thick plastic or in a damp box overnight to homogenize. 

Refining the Shape 

The box needs to be at a soft leather-hard stage at this point. Use a paddle, metal ribs, and stiff rubber ribs to further refine the overall shape (9). Create a transition point that indicates where the box will be separated into two parts: the main body and the lid. This transition point should be located at the thick band of clay that was created during the throwing process. Using a banding wheel and an X-Acto knife, cut the box into two sections directly through the thick section. Make sure this cut is level and smooth. This will be referred to as the box’s gallery. Roll a thin coil of clay and reinforce the interior seam where you joined the lid slab to the cylinder body. 

Throwing and Fitting the Flange 

Remove the lid, place a piece of string around the inner perimeter of the gallery, and take the measurement of this section of string (10). This number will be the circumference of the thrown coil needed to create the flange for the gallery. Divide the circumference measurement by π (3.14) to arrive at the diameter of the coil you will need to throw. With your calipers set to this diameter measurement, throw a coil that looks like a sideways T (11). The right extension of the sideways T needs to extend outward. The lower extension of the sideways T needs to match the measurement set on your calipers. 

Once the flange has firmed up, fit it inside the lid section. The right extension of the sideways T rests on the lip of the gallery, and the lower extension of the sideways T extends into the lid section (12). The remaining vertical extension of the sideways T remains upright and becomes the flange that rests inside the body of the box. Attach the flange to the lid once the pieces have homogenized. Smooth the flange so that it blends into the gallery. 

Final Refinement 

With the lid and body of the box assembled, use a Surform and a metal rib to further refine the shape (13). Panels on the lid can be defined at this time, and corners can be sharpened. The transition between the lid and body of the box should be smooth and even, with a gap between the pieces barely visible. 

The combed surface texture I like to use is made by the teeth of a plastic knife. Rake the knife in a vertical manner on each panel of the box (14). Apply the texture to each vertical panel of the body and lid before adding texture to the flat panels of the lid. 

Creating and Attaching the Feet 

Throw a ring-shaped slab on a bat marked into four equal sections (15). This thrown slab should be roughly the width of the box. This slab needs to consist of two sections that are both slightly concave, with the inner section being slightly thinner than the outer section. This will create a stepped wedge design and ensure the feet are taller toward the perimeter of the box. 

Cut the ring-shaped slab into four sections to create four symmetrical feet. Mark the center of each foot lightly, as this will indicate the placement of the foot in reference to the corner of the box. On the underside of the box draw lines between opposite corners of the box, creating an X. Place the feet on the bottom of the box so that they protrude roughly a quarter of an inch out from the bottom of the box (16). Ensure the marked center point of each of the feet line up with the marked X on the bottom of the box. Outline the perimeter of each foot so you know where to slip and score. Attach each of the feet and ensure they line up with the foot opposite to them. Trim any excess clay with a knife or wire tool. Refine the surfaces of the feet using a rubber rib and sponge (17). 

Registration 

Determine which side of the box will be the front. Cut two trapezoid shapes from clay scraps that reference the angles of the box shape. These trapezoids will become registration marks for aligning the lid to the body of the box. Attach the shapes to the center of the lid and body panels you determined will be the front (18). Ensure they are vertically aligned. 

Lightly cover the completed box in plastic and allow it to dry slowly for 4–5 days. Check it each day to repair any cracks that may form. I bisque fire to cone 04 by using a long firing, roughly 12 hours. Once the piece has been bisque fired, I sand all of the surfaces to remove any crumbs of clay that may have stuck when adding texture. Then, each piece is washed and dried before the glazing process begins. 

Brian Westrick is a functional potter currently living in Dowagiac, Michigan. He received his BFA from Grand Valley State University in 2012, and later earned an MFA in ceramics from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 2018. His work has been nationally collected and is featured in numerous private collections throughout the US. Westrick feels that his work is complete when the wares have been integrated within domestic cycles of daily use.