So, how does one create sgraffito items like the bowls and dishes in the photo at the top of my last post? These pictures illustrate most of the process. First you throw the item using a dark colored clay. Then you coat the item with a layer of light colored slip (liquid clay). Then you wait for it to dry to leather hardness, at which point you get to bring out the sharp and pointy tools. I use a compass to draw nice even circles--and there are Byzantine pieces with compass wholes right in the center so we know they weren't just freakishly good at drawing circles. There are a variety of different tools to carve through the clay with, all which leave pretty rough edges and tiny clay dust all over, so a brush is useful to help clean up the piece as you go along. The plate and two bowls seen in the pictures have now been moved to the greenware shelf, where they'll finish air drying before being bisqued. After that, it's time for glazing...and the long, long wait until the studio has accumulated enough pieces to do a cone 04 firing (the final firing stage).
About those blue bowls--yes, that is a clay slip. The blue is made from adding cobalt (or so I'm told).
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