Your old vase is one DIY away from becoming a handcrafted work of art, and you don't need tons of craft skills to make it ...

In our clay tile tutorial, we show step-by-step instructions on how to make a slab. A wine bottle or rolling pin is a great way to get a clay slab that has a thickness of a little less than 1/4″.

Slab building needs careful preparation but can make some impressive sculptural objects or vessels. A lump of clay is first rolled out onto either a sheet of fabric or paper, using a rolling pin.

Until the first century BC, British pots were hand-made by coil- or slab-shaping. Clay was mixed with 'temper' such as sand or crushed pottery, which reduced shrinkage and cracking on drying.