Sgraffito tile

The main idea for this project was to create a sgraffito tile using leather hard clay. For my design, I knew I wanted to do something floral something using my favorite flowers. I love tulips and I haven't done many projects using them in the past, so I figured now would be a good time to do so.  I also assumed tulips wouldn't be enough to fill the space so I chose to add some circles within the background to make the tile more 50/50.

The materials I used were leather hard clay, purple underglaze, and clay tools.

The process for this project was so fun. I really enjoy doing sgraffito. I first started by making a clay slab with fresh plastic clay, I only used my hands to beat it down and to the right size and thickness. Once it was big enough and the right thickness, I used a template to cut it out. Once the clay was somewhat at the leather hard stage, I used purple underglaze to coat it. I used 3 coats of underglaze and blowdried it down. Once my clay and glaze we a bit more dry, I put my design on top of it and started to trace it with a dull pencil. Next, I started actually carving out my design on to my clay. Once it was fully carved it was ready to be set aside and fired. I really liked this process overall and found it to be really relaxing.