Sgraffito

No, it's not something you spray on the sides of buildings or subway cars. It's a pottery technique. Basically, I took greenware (dried, but not fired clay), crushed it into a powder, added water and black mason stain (though you can add many different colors), and blended well.

Then I used this as a coating on the outside of leather hard pieces, after which I carved through to reveal the contrasting white clay beneath. Fire, glaze clear or with a transluscent color, and glaze fire. Voila!

In my case, I've been carving Hebrew "Mom" and "Dad". But last week I tried something different and took a couple of sketches from my friend David (see previous post), reduced them in size, and traced them onto the slip using a wood stick over a copy of his drawing. Then I carved through the indented lines.

The final results make me smile -- cuz David is such a wonderful doodler. Looking forward to more sgraffito soon!