Rock slab plantings are relatively popular but finding the right rock slab might not be so easy; just the right size and thickness without being milled dead flat. I don't know where you'd begin to find something like that so let's get back to the answer of making one, or two or three.
Our eastern Australian climate can be tuff on slab exposed root systems so the brief was to create a simulated slab with some concavity to hold a bit more potting medium.
The first result was this slab which has finished up at 555 x 360 x 45mm. When the soil is hilled up in the middle it will hold a good volume and with a tree up at around 600mm will look in good proportion, substantial.
The second one is much more slab like and final dimensions are 590 x 435 x 35mm, but has lots of movement. This one certainly hasn't been cut on a big saw in a quarry.
The 'pots' are quite large and so will support large trees or forests. I think the second one would look great with a forest setting and the soil spilling over closer to the edge of the slab than being confined to the concave space.
Both are made with conventional feet under there to support and hold the base off any bench.
There is one more I'm still working on, in shades of grey which I'll post when it's done. I've made them with my now usual YG stoneware clay, fired to bisque and then coloured with underglaze before a final firing. Some further adjustment to the colouring was called for after that so a little more underglaze and then another firing to 1100C finished them off. I thought it would be a quicker process to make something like this compared to a pot of the same size but to make a reasonable simulation that wasn't the case, and close enough isn't good enough.
Love to know what you think?
Our eastern Australian climate can be tuff on slab exposed root systems so the brief was to create a simulated slab with some concavity to hold a bit more potting medium.
The first result was this slab which has finished up at 555 x 360 x 45mm. When the soil is hilled up in the middle it will hold a good volume and with a tree up at around 600mm will look in good proportion, substantial.
The second one is much more slab like and final dimensions are 590 x 435 x 35mm, but has lots of movement. This one certainly hasn't been cut on a big saw in a quarry.
The 'pots' are quite large and so will support large trees or forests. I think the second one would look great with a forest setting and the soil spilling over closer to the edge of the slab than being confined to the concave space.
Both are made with conventional feet under there to support and hold the base off any bench.
There is one more I'm still working on, in shades of grey which I'll post when it's done. I've made them with my now usual YG stoneware clay, fired to bisque and then coloured with underglaze before a final firing. Some further adjustment to the colouring was called for after that so a little more underglaze and then another firing to 1100C finished them off. I thought it would be a quicker process to make something like this compared to a pot of the same size but to make a reasonable simulation that wasn't the case, and close enough isn't good enough.
Love to know what you think?
Looking good, they will look fantastic with the right tree in them
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