New Sgraffito Tray and Answers to Heather’s Meme Tag
This was a fun project to make. I have been concentrating so hard on perfecting my wheel throwing skills that I forgot how much I liked handbuilding. This tray was made by rolling out clay with a slab roller, letting it set up a bit, and then slumping it over a telephone book. After the clay had dried enough, I painted 2 contrasting colors of slip onto the try. I used some fairly trendy colors-brown and light blue. I like the design I had done on my cylinder last week and decided to replicate that on this tray. Again, using the shellac as a guide for my own use so that I could scratch away the unpainted part of the tray.
This tray is currently sitting on the bisque shelf at the Art Student’s League. I should be able to add a clear glaze and have it ready the week after next. Actually I have quite a few things that will be coming out of the glaze kiln this week that I’ll share, including 4 new cone 6 glazes that I made up and tested last week. I pulled a recipe from Mastering Cone 6 Glazes by John Hesselberth and Ron Roy. So hopefully they turned out (fingers crossed)!
Heather over at Bad! Kitty Art Studio tagged me in a meme last week, so now I must share 5 things about myself that you may not know.
- Yesterday was indeed my birthday- I was outed by my best friend Nikki out in San Fransisco. I’m a Saint Patty’s Day baby-no green beer for me last night, but I did enjoy some green margaritas out on our patio-basking in the 70 degree weather!
- I collect styrofoam meat trays. I know it’s sick, but I always think that someday, somewhere I might be able to use these gems again. I hate to throw them in the landfill, so they end up in my studio, stacked in nice neat rows. I have way more than I can use, so if anyone needs any, let me know.
- I can’t stand to wear night gowns to sleep in-they get all bunched up when I’m sleeping and is just very annoying to me. So, I really like to wear old fashion men’s pjs-if they have a really high cotton thread count-even better.
- I snored like a trucker when I was pregnant. My husband kept telling me it was true and I thought he was exaggerating. He has the recording to prove it and keeps it in a secret place so that I can’t find and destroy the evidence.
- Let’s see one more thing…I was a cheerleader in high school-eek! I’m trying to convince my daughter to be a jock and a nerd instead. Here’s the picture to prove it:
I think it’s only fitting, that I tag my friend Nikki! You’re it.
Sgraffito
My ceramics instructor at the Art Student’s League asked everyone to try some new surface decoration treatments on our wheel thrown pots. I think it’s a great exercise and will hopefully give me some ideas for new work. (Thanks M.C.!) Our task was to throw 4 cylinders and then apply a different technique to each one. The first one involved painting on a colored slip and employing a method called sgraffito, which comes from the Italian word sgraffire or to scratch. It is commonly used in ceramic arts but can also be used in 2d work. Paint on 1 color, let it dry and then paint another over the top and use a sharp point (or other end of the paint brush) to draw back into the paint. With clay, colored slip is applied and then scratched or carved back into the form.
The second technique I am doing is to paint my design using shellac. I am going to carve away the unpainted part of the clay, so that the shellac painting will remain raised (the shellac will burn off during the bisque fire). We are also going to do some glaze stamping and cold surface glazing. Cold surface glazing is when color is applied but not fired in a kiln. You can use shoe polish, paint (oil, watercolor and acrylic), gold leaf, ink, wax, you name it-the sky is the limit.
I’m super excited! Last week, I applied for a tax ID and am ready to go on that front business wise. I used it today when I visited Mile Hi Ceramics and purchased a new Aim 88T Test Kiln for firing my pendants and other clay derived jewelry and I also purchased some raw materials. I will be test firing my kiln this week and will hopefully have a batch of pendants ready to fire this weekend.
I just signed up for another FREE tele-seminar with Art Biz Coach, Alyson Stanfield and Katherine Weber, author of Red Lotus Letter. The tele-seminar is titled How To Energize Your Art Career with Feng Shui. The seminar promises to introduce the listeners to the prinicples of Feng Shui and how proper studio organization can influence your energy and momentum. I figure, what the heck…I’m converting my garage into my studio space and I can use all the help that I can get!
I should probably mention that the tele-seminar is open to the first 250 people who sign up and takes place Wed. March 21st at 8PM EDT.
