Scraffito Clay

Artist Statement: 

For this unit, we focused on scratching away at a clay slab focusing on incorporating pattern, and balancing the amount of white and black showing 50/50. We paid close attention to the negative space and making clean lines with the tools. 

I used clay, black underglaze, clear glaze, and a variety of scratching tools to make this tile. 

To start this project, we began by rolling out our clay slab. Ideally, we wanted it to be about 1cm in width so that it wasn't too thick but not too thin. After we had our slabs rolled out we set them out and draped them to let them get leather hard. We didn't want them to completely harden or stay completely soft so they were ideal for scratching into. Once they were leather-hard, we put our under glaze on our tile, let that dry then began scratching our tile. I preferred the ball head tool because I found that it made the lines look the cleanest. I originally wasn't going to add the birds in the sky but I thought that the background looked a little empty so I added them to fill up some of that space. Once we were done scratching into our tiles they were left to dry out completely. If they were to be put in the kiln while they were still slightly wet, there was a possibility that they could explode. Once they were completely dried they got put into the kiln for a bisque firing. After that, we put our clear glaze on our tiles and once that was dry they went in the kiln again for a final glaze firing. Then I was done!