Sgraffito

For this project we had to create a design to put onto a clay slab that we could scratch the negative space. A few projects ago I did something tarot card inspired and added a cool sun so I decided to make something inspired by that sun. I liked the contrast of the sun and moon and since they're in space I wanted to incorporate that into my piece. I wanted the sun and moon to be together so that it shows how they're different but they work together.

This was made by me first getting inspiration from my surrealism project so I sketched my idea on a piece of paper using a normal 2H pencil. After I realized that I really liked my sketch I moved on to scratchboard so that I could see what I wanted to scratch out on my final piece. I realized that I was happy with my scratchboard part so I moved on to clay. I used a stencil for all of the circles because I didn't want to mess anything up. I sketched everything in pencil on the slab first so that I didn't make any mistakes. After I was happy I started carving out the piece that I wanted to be white using a red-handled scratchboard tool. That tool proved to be very helpful and quite efficient, it also made very smooth lines. Finally, it was done and I was ready have my piece fired. I'm pretty happy with the way it came out obviously it could be better but I do like it.

I didn't necessarily research anything but I did look at a few reference images to see how the sun and moon image should look. I did practice a few times as you can see by my sketch and my scratchboard. I had to do a lot of revision on my sketch because I kept being unhappy with the way it was looking but I realized I'd be able to perfect it as I transfered my design to other mediums. I probably struggled the most with the little flames off the sun because I didn't want them to be too thick or too thin but I also had to show the white and black. It was also hard to make the waves on them as well and make all of them look the same. Spacing was also an issue for me because I needed to space the flames but on my piece and I forgot to make room for my planets but I was able to fit most of them in.