OK, it's only a joke, a children's' toy from the mid 1970s made by the Whiting Company, a division of the long-established board-game and educational supplier Milton Bradley. At a first glance the writer though this lathe might be a means of forming moulds for "slip casting" where a plaster of Paris mould is made and liquid clay "slip" poured in. The plaster absorbs moisture and, after a suitable interval, forms a thin shell of clay, the remaining material being poured off and the shell left to shrink away from the walls. Once removed, the perfectly formed replica of the mould can be fired and glazed, etc. But, no, this was just a crude way of turning plaster using pre-set forms and the resulting shapes painted….