Sgraffito Clay

Artist Statement:

The main idea behind my sgraffito tile was creating a good balance between positive and negative space. This guided my design and final piece. I also wanted to fill the space interestingly, as I chose a heart for my base which made it harder to find ways to fill the space that made sense and looked good. These were my main goals behind the piece.

For my sgraffito tile, I started by shaping the clay into a heart. After I did this, I painted a layer of black underglaze on top of the clay. I then sketched my drawing onto the heart. When this was done, I could then scratch out my tile. I used tools to scrape the top layer of black off and leave the clay visible. When the tile was dry, I put three layers of glaze on, and then the piece was put in the kiln, leaving my final piece.

I started the process by creating my idea generation. While creating this, I focused on the positive and negative space and attempted to make these two even. After I had finished that, I started my main piece. While creating this, I made the choices that I did so that the piece was accurate to my original drawing and used the space well.