Adventures in Surface Decoration

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Saturday was the second class. I just continued work on the things I started in the first session, primarily making small plates of cone 5 b-mix to experiment with different surface decoration techniques. I finished this plate using the mishima technique:
That means I carved the design into the leather hard clay, then painted it with colored underglaze. After that dried I wiped away the excess with a damp sponge, leaving only the lines colored. Unfortunately I think I had my sponge a little too damp, so in some places too much of the underglaze was washed off. I'm hoping I can touch this up after it's bisqued, if necessary. I call this one "T-Rex Under the Moon".

Next, I made a second small plate:
This guy was painted with underglaze when it was leather hard, and then at home I carved a design into it, per the sgraffito technique. So it's basically the opposite of the other plate. I'll post pics for that later. It turned out mostly ok, though the lines were a little rough; it was hard to get the carving smooth and not have bits come off on the sides of the lines.

Finally, I continued work on a raku piece. It's going to be a small oval box made from red raku clay. I have the top and bottom cut out, but unfortunately I found out that I didn't roll out enough clay for the sides. I have more raku clay so I'll do that at tonight's class and hopefully assemble the box. I'll then carve designs into the clay. With the clay I was going to use on the sides, I've decided to make a small decoration for my garden. Possibly a toadstool, because that'd be sweet. Or a zombie gnome. We'll see where inspiration takes me. I'm hoping to get both of these pieces assembled tonight.

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