Last year some time I attempted to hand build a large planter. I added the bottom and the foot too soon and it sagged. Then I flipped it out too soon and it crumbled. I decided to make a second attempt at this. I'm roughly following one of the Clayshare classes on how to do this.

I used Laguna 60 clay and rolled it out to 1/2 inch thick and then cut it into strips the width of a yard stick. I used a bat as my guide for the circumference. Started off with two rows straight up and down then I started angling them in. I ended up with 8 rows to get to an opening that was only a few inches wide. I let it dry until when I was pressing on the rim it didn't give too much.


Once the clay was dry enough I covered the hole and added a foot ring. The foot ring was just another piece like I used to built the walls. I added coils outside and inside the foot ring to give it strength. I left it like this for 2 days to let it setup enough.




I was testing it frequently to determine when it would be dry enough to flip. I was waiting for it to be dry enough to not collapse, but still wet enough to blend in the bottom on the inside. I let it setup for a day once I flipped it.




I think this is going to end up being a part of my next garden stack so I wanted it to fit into the river theme. So I made it look like the bottom of the river with rocks.