How to Make a Slab Built Tea Cup | Daily Vessels Nº2

How to Build the Daily Vessels Tea Cup

This is the Daily Vessels tea cup, built start to finish using the templates from Booklet Nº2. In this video I walk through every step: cutting the pieces, assembling the body, making all three handle options, and finishing the surface before the first firing.

No wheel. Just a slab, the templates, and the same technique you'll use for every piece in this collection: cut, score, slip, join.

What You'll See in the Video

I work through the body in two sections, which gives the tea cup its proportions and makes it manageable to build. I show how to check the fit before joining, how to smooth the seams from the inside, and a small trick for leveling the base on a flat surface — useful for large vases from Booklet Nº3 too.

For the handles, the Daily Vessels booklet includes three options that work for this shape: the ribbon, the wavy, and the circle. I show how to form each one, then attach the ribbon handle to the finished cup.

The clay I'm using is 112 Brown Stoneware from Standard Ceramics. More forgiving than porcelain and great for slab building, especially for multi-part forms like this one.

The Templates

The Daily Vessels booklet (Nº2) includes full-scale slab building templates for the complete collection. If you're new to handbuilding pottery with templates, the system is simple: print, cut, place directly on your slab, and cut around each piece. No resizing needed.

The booklet is available as a physical booklet and digital download here.

Next week I'll show the bisque and glazing steps for this cup.

Happy building! Fran