How to Create a Ceramic Fireplace: Part One, Facade and Mantle

In this video, I'm going to show you the first steps on how to create a ceramic fireplace that can also serve as a candle holder. Before you begin building your ceramic fireplace, gather your materials and tools. You will need to work on a sheet of canvas, you'll need your Ziploc bag labeled with your name, you'll need some clay, and a foam core board to put your project on. Also, you need a rolling pin, two wooden rails, and a box of tools. There are a variety of tools in your box and eventually you'll probably use all of them to build your fireplace, but today you will need to use either a needle tool or fettling knife to cut out the pieces of clay and you will need one of these wooden sticks to smooth out your attachment points. In addition, you will need a cup of slip for attaching clay together and you will need your templates. You will use the facade and mantle templates today and next class you will use the wall and base templates. You can see how these are all going to fit together. Once you have gathered all these supplies, you can begin to create your project. On the first day of class, you want to cut out your facade and mantle and you need to score and slip them together. First, keep out only as much clay as you believe you're going to use and put any clay you're not currently using in your Ziploc bag. Then, begin to wedge your clay. You can wedge your clay by kneading it in your hands. Watch how I'm applying pressure to the clay and rolling it on the canvas mat. The purpose of wedging clay is to remove any air bubbles. Once you feel your clay is wedged, then you can press it down and put it between your two wooden rails. We're going to begin by rolling out enough clay to cut out a facade. Use the rolling pin or wooden stick to roll the clay until it is the thickness of the wooden rails. You will know it is the thickness of the rails when your rolling pin makes contact with the wooden rails. You'll actually be able to hear and feel that contact has been made. Next, place your facade template on your clay and cut the clay the size of the template. You can use either the kneading tool or the fettling knife to do this. If you have enough clay remaining to cut out your mantle from the remaining slab, you can do that, but if not, you'll just need to take more clay, wedge it again, and then roll it out between your rails the size of your mantle. And you'll repeat this step of placing the mantle template on top and cutting it out. So now you have two slabs of clay, your facade and your mantle, and we're going to now score and slip them together. To score the clay, you will carve cross-hatching lines into both pieces of clay that will be attached together. Think of scoring like creating velcro. Then you will apply slip to both areas that were scored. Think of the slip as a glue. Press both pieces together. Now we're not finished yet. We do need to add some support to the clay and smooth it out. Smoothing it alone is not recommended. Take a piece of clay and roll out a thin coil. Press your coil into the seam where the slabs of clay meet. Now take your finger and smooth out that area. You can also take a tool like your wooden stick and use that to smooth out a crease. Do this to both sides of your facade. Now you get to be creative. Your next step is to create your opening. This is where you would see the fire if this was a real fireplace, or in your case, your candle light. Use your sketch to help you. If you want to deviate from your original sketch idea, it's okay to do so, but hopefully having a plan will give you direction to move forward with your decorations. You want to remove clay from your facade as well as add clay on top. When you do that, remember to score and slip like you did when you connected the facade to the mantle. When it's time to clean up, put what you have started into your Ziploc bag and zip the bag. Then return all of the tools that you used as directed. If any tool is very dirty with clay, please clean it off first. Your project is going to be stored on your class's drying cart and all clay that you did not use will be returned to the You will need to wash off your table using a damp sponge, but never squeeze out the water onto your table space. When at the sink area, you cannot let chunks of clay fall into the sink as it will clog the drain. Instead, use a paper towel to get off any pieces of clay from your hands and just throw them away in the garbage can. Then you can wash your hands with soap at the sink. Please be responsible with clay and use your energy to create an amazing creative fireplace.