The fountain-making process begins with a bag of clay. We purchase Cone 6 stoneware clay (fired to "only" 2245ºC in the electric kiln) by the ton. It is mixed from a receipe that De learned in school -- that can withstand greater temperature changes than many other clay bodies. We use a higher fire (~2345ºC) stoneware if we are going to fire the fountain in the gas kiln.
Next step (an easy one) is to cut off a portion of clay off of the block. The size of the cut piece is dependent on the size of the desired slab. The cut piece is then rolled out to the desired width and placed on the slab-roller.

The clay is then rolled through the slab-roller two to three times (each time with more thickness of wood underneath) until the slab is the desired thickness. Prior to the last roll-through, one or more pieces of lace (or other textured material) are placed over the clay in order to add texture to the clay. The textured material comes from a variety of sources (friends, relatives & other crafters).

The textured slab of clay is then cut into pieces that will later be assembled into the parts of the fountain (in this case, a 1-piece fountain). These pieces are left to dry to leather hardness (about 24 hours). The surfaces that are to be fastened together are then "scored" (slashed with needle tool) and moistened in order to provide a strong bond. Once the pieces have been pressed together (no air bubbles allowed), additional clay is pressed into the seams to provide additional strengthening.
In the case of multiple leveled fountains, additional time is required between levels to allow lower levels to dry enough to support the weight of upper levels. A smaller fountain might take about four hours to "assemble" -- but 4-5 days from beginning to end of assembly.

Once the fountain is complete, it is lightly covered with plastic to control the drying process (drying too fast often causes cracking as thicker/wetter parts dry slower than thinner/dryer parts). After 4-5 days, the plastic is removed to allow the piece to fully dry. It is often at that time that final finishing is done (rough edges are smoothed). Once the fountain is fully dry (about 2 more weeks), it is put into the kiln for its bisque firing (low firing (~1845ºC) to harden the fountain prior to glazing). The bisque firing takes about 7 hours to reach temperature -- then cools for about 24 hours. Prior to glazing, wax resist is painted on bottom edges so that glaze does not adhere to those parts (if glaze is allowed to remain on parts of pottery/stoneware that rests on kiln shelves, the melting glaze has a tendency to "glue" the pottery to the kiln shelf). Following the wax resist process, the fountain is then sprayed with 2-3 coats of glaze, edges cleaned, and placed in the kiln for high firing (8 hours in the electric kiln or 12 hours in the gas kiln). From beginning to end, a "typical' fountain takes about four weeks to complete.