Sgraffito Tile

Artist Statement

For this project, I created a clay slab with a sgrafitto engraved design of a fish on it. The purpose was to become more familiar with the clay, in particular wedging, rolling, and forming the clay into a symmetrical, consistent rectangular slab, as well as to experiment with the technique of using sgrafitto, in other words carving into dried underglaze to reveal the bare clay below, as a means to decorate our works. The piece will likely end up being simply a decorative tile, however it could also be used as a serving tray for a smaller food item.

I decided to carve a fish that is supposed to appear in motion onto my slab, mostly because I enjoyed the sketch I came up with and also because I wanted to have the freedom of carving loosely and freely in the clay, this being particularly exciting since in my 2D work I am generally very precise and plan lines out ahead of the project.

The first steps in creating my tile were to wedge the clay and ensure it was free from air bubbles and had an even consistency throughout, and to begin to flatten and roll out my clay to an even thickness using a rolling pin and wooden dowels. Using a pre-made, rectangular paper cutout, I cut down my slab and began smoothing the edges and the surface by scraping the clay with a plastic straight edge. After letting the clay get to the leather hard stage, I added three coats of green underglaze, waiting for each to dry before adding the next. Once this dried as well, I was able to use a number of tools such as the needlepoint tool begin etching my design into the clay. Finally, it was bisque fired, at which point I could use a clear glaze to finish it off. It was then glaze fired and finished. With this piece in particular, I was pleasantly surprised by the color, as I wanted to use green but wasn't a big fan of how the underglaze looked before it was fired.