I am a potter and educator in the Chicagoland area. I am thrilled by the opportunity to bring playful, elegant pieces into people’s everyday lives. I am most inspired by the tension between the order and chaos of everything from nature to our daily
rituals. One of my favorite items to make are small snack saucers.
Throwing the Base Form
To begin, you’ll need 1 pound (454 grams) of wedged clay, a bat to throw on, and calipers set to 3 inches (7.6 cm). I also like to have a metal rib, a Mudtools yellow rib, and a throwing sponge handy. After wheel wedging and centering your clay,
spread it wider than a half sphere. Using your thumb or finger, press a hole in the center. Before pulling outward, check the depth of your base—it should be ¼ inch (6.4 mm) or slightly thicker. Next, use one finger to pull the sides
outward, maintaining as flat of a base as possible. Once you’ve pulled your base to 3 inches in diameter, place your index finger at 3 o’clock and press in with the side of your finger to create a right angle between the bottom and side
of the piece (1). Next, use the flat end of a rib to further impress the right angle and compress the bottom (2).
1 Make a right angle between the floor and wall of the saucer.2 Compress the floor of the saucer and reinforce the wall angle.
Once you’ve set the base, you’re ready to pull up the sides. Pull the sides out at about a 45° angle, being sure to leave some thickness at the rim (3). Once the sides are pulled out to slightly thinner than ¼ inch (6.4 mm), take
time to smooth and undercut the bottom before laying them down. Use your metal rib to remove slip from the underside of the walls, then use a modeling tool to slightly undercut the base. This will make it easier to cut the saucer off your bat after
it is complete.
3 Use a rib to lay down the sides to almost parallel with the wheel.
Next, use your rib to lay the sides down to nearly parallel to the wheel. Be sure not to get them all the way to parallel or they may collapse. Use your rib to smooth and shape the sides, so they have a slight curve upward from the center to the outer
edge.
Compress the edge with your finger or a chamois, then use a very taut wire tool to cut your saucer off the wheel. I like to do this while the wheel is spinning.
Let your piece firm to leather hard before beginning the next step. I recommend covering the form in plastic, trying to get the plastic closer to the edges while letting more air reach the middle of the saucer. As soon as your saucer is stiff enough to
move without warping, move it to a dry bat or wareboard to continue drying to leather hard. Tip: Use cut-up drywall for wareboards. This helps the center dry before the outside edges, which will drastically reduce your chance of it
cracking.
Altering the Form
Once your saucer is leather hard (a bit softer is okay), you’re ready to cut the sides into a rectangle. Always draw your lines on before making your cuts. This allows you to visualize the final shape, but smooth and redraw the lines if necessary.
Draw two lines with a slight outward curve on either side of the circular base for the long edges of the rectangle. Then draw two perpendicular lines, also with slight outward curves for the short sides of the rectangle. Make one of these lines close
to the circular base, and another further out, close to the outer edge of the side (4).
When you’re ready to cut, hold your knife—I use a Dolan cutting knife, but any will do—at about a 45° angle, pointing the bottom outward, and cut along your drawn lines (5). Carefully pull the cut clay sides away from the main saucer
(6).
4 Lightly draw an outline of how you want to cut the saucer from the plate shape.5 Cut away the edges with a sharp knife pointing down and slanted outward.
6 Gently pull away the cut sides to reveal the altered shape.
Trimming the Form
Once the form is leather hard, you are ready to trim. First, throw a chuck on the wheel to hold the saucer upside down. I center about 1½ pounds (680 grams) of clay and then make a shallow hole in the center as if beginning to throw a small bowl off the hump (7). Widen the edges of the bowl to fit just inside the base of your saucer. As long as your chuck is high enough to lift the edges
of your saucer away from the wheel, wide enough to balance it, and narrow enough to fit into the thrown, circular base, it will work.
Place your saucer upside down on the chuck, and center the base. Use a trimming tool to trim a foot onto the saucer. Compress the foot with a stiff rib (8).
Clean up any unevenness or roughness on the base of the piece with a trimming tool or finishing sponge. Then, flip your piece over and smooth the edges with a finishing sponge. Your saucer is now fully formed. I would recommend covering it loosely while
it dries to bone dry to ensure the outer edges don’t dry faster than the center; this will cause cracking. Bisque fire the saucer once it’s fully dry.
7 Create a chuck to hold your saucer upside down while you trim.8 Trim a wide, stable foot, and then compress the base and the foot.
Finishing the Saucer
For my watercolor design, I layer several glazes before covering them all with a clear glaze. I use several paintbrushes to place thick dots of pink, light blue, dark blue, and deep teal glaze overlapping each other in random sections across the saucer
(9). After these areas have completely dried, I dip the entire piece in a cone-6 clear glaze and wipe off the base. Now it’s ready for glaze firing.
9 Paint generous dollops of colored glaze on the bisque-fired pieces.Samantha Hostert's Snack Saucer, 51/2 in. (14 cm) in length, porcelain, glaze fired to cone 6, luster fired to cone 018, 2024.
After the glaze firing, I hand paint gold luster accents throughout the circles of colored glaze. Finally, fire the piece a third time to cone 018 to adhere the gold luster. Your saucer is now ready to hold your favorite dessert or snack!
Samantha Hostert is a ceramic artist and educator in the Chicago area. She makes functional, comfortable pots to encourage people to slow down and enjoy the rituals and conversations of everyday life.
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I am a potter and educator in the Chicagoland area. I am thrilled by the opportunity to bring playful, elegant pieces into people’s everyday lives. I am most inspired by the tension between the order and chaos of everything from nature to our daily rituals. One of my favorite items to make are small snack saucers.
Throwing the Base Form
To begin, you’ll need 1 pound (454 grams) of wedged clay, a bat to throw on, and calipers set to 3 inches (7.6 cm). I also like to have a metal rib, a Mudtools yellow rib, and a throwing sponge handy. After wheel wedging and centering your clay, spread it wider than a half sphere. Using your thumb or finger, press a hole in the center. Before pulling outward, check the depth of your base—it should be ¼ inch (6.4 mm) or slightly thicker. Next, use one finger to pull the sides outward, maintaining as flat of a base as possible. Once you’ve pulled your base to 3 inches in diameter, place your index finger at 3 o’clock and press in with the side of your finger to create a right angle between the bottom and side of the piece (1). Next, use the flat end of a rib to further impress the right angle and compress the bottom (2).
Once you’ve set the base, you’re ready to pull up the sides. Pull the sides out at about a 45° angle, being sure to leave some thickness at the rim (3). Once the sides are pulled out to slightly thinner than ¼ inch (6.4 mm), take time to smooth and undercut the bottom before laying them down. Use your metal rib to remove slip from the underside of the walls, then use a modeling tool to slightly undercut the base. This will make it easier to cut the saucer off your bat after it is complete.
Next, use your rib to lay the sides down to nearly parallel to the wheel. Be sure not to get them all the way to parallel or they may collapse. Use your rib to smooth and shape the sides, so they have a slight curve upward from the center to the outer edge.
Compress the edge with your finger or a chamois, then use a very taut wire tool to cut your saucer off the wheel. I like to do this while the wheel is spinning.
Let your piece firm to leather hard before beginning the next step. I recommend covering the form in plastic, trying to get the plastic closer to the edges while letting more air reach the middle of the saucer. As soon as your saucer is stiff enough to move without warping, move it to a dry bat or wareboard to continue drying to leather hard. Tip: Use cut-up drywall for wareboards. This helps the center dry before the outside edges, which will drastically reduce your chance of it cracking.
Altering the Form
Once your saucer is leather hard (a bit softer is okay), you’re ready to cut the sides into a rectangle. Always draw your lines on before making your cuts. This allows you to visualize the final shape, but smooth and redraw the lines if necessary. Draw two lines with a slight outward curve on either side of the circular base for the long edges of the rectangle. Then draw two perpendicular lines, also with slight outward curves for the short sides of the rectangle. Make one of these lines close to the circular base, and another further out, close to the outer edge of the side (4).
When you’re ready to cut, hold your knife—I use a Dolan cutting knife, but any will do—at about a 45° angle, pointing the bottom outward, and cut along your drawn lines (5). Carefully pull the cut clay sides away from the main saucer (6).
Trimming the Form
Once the form is leather hard, you are ready to trim. First, throw a chuck on the wheel to hold the saucer upside down. I center about 1½ pounds (680 grams) of clay and then make a shallow hole in the center as if beginning to throw a small bowl off the hump (7). Widen the edges of the bowl to fit just inside the base of your saucer. As long as your chuck is high enough to lift the edges of your saucer away from the wheel, wide enough to balance it, and narrow enough to fit into the thrown, circular base, it will work.
Place your saucer upside down on the chuck, and center the base. Use a trimming tool to trim a foot onto the saucer. Compress the foot with a stiff rib (8).
Clean up any unevenness or roughness on the base of the piece with a trimming tool or finishing sponge. Then, flip your piece over and smooth the edges with a finishing sponge. Your saucer is now fully formed. I would recommend covering it loosely while it dries to bone dry to ensure the outer edges don’t dry faster than the center; this will cause cracking. Bisque fire the saucer once it’s fully dry.
Finishing the Saucer
For my watercolor design, I layer several glazes before covering them all with a clear glaze. I use several paintbrushes to place thick dots of pink, light blue, dark blue, and deep teal glaze overlapping each other in random sections across the saucer (9). After these areas have completely dried, I dip the entire piece in a cone-6 clear glaze and wipe off the base. Now it’s ready for glaze firing.
After the glaze firing, I hand paint gold luster accents throughout the circles of colored glaze. Finally, fire the piece a third time to cone 018 to adhere the gold luster. Your saucer is now ready to hold your favorite dessert or snack!
Samantha Hostert is a ceramic artist and educator in the Chicago area. She makes functional, comfortable pots to encourage people to slow down and enjoy the rituals and conversations of everyday life.
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