Yesterday I worked on several bowls, a great horned owl, a black bear, and two swallows. First I make a drawing of my choice on the clay. Then I fill in the subject with stained slip. I wait for the slip to dry over night and the next day I use my sgraffito tool to remove the slip in short and long strokes to reveal more detail. I use a soft dry brush to remove the pieces of clay I sgraffito. Here's the great horned owl.
This is what the owl looks like before using the sgraffito technique.
Here's a black bear after sgraffito. These bowls are about eleven inches across and two inches deep.
Here's the black bear before sgraffito.
Here's my new kemper sgraffito tool. I use the wire tip of the tool to remove a small amount of the soft leather hard clay which reveals the detail of the subject matter.
Here are two swallows waiting for sgraffito. This bowl is about fifteen inches long, seven inches wide and four inches deep. We're all loaded for the Trash and Treasures sale today and Friday so I'd better get going. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.
