Sgraffito

I started by getting a hunk of clay and rolling it out to like a centimeter thickness of the clay so it would fire/finish well. I used one of the metal carving tools to freehand the shape I wanted. At first, I wasn't sure what I was going to do for my design so I just shaped the clay into a circle shape. The shape made me think of the sun which is why I ended up doing a big sun with rays. The little saying I carved “Like the sun we have the power to shine a light on the world around us.” was also what guided my artwork and I thought it was just a nice positive saying.

To create this work, I used a slab of clay and three coats of black glaze, and carving tools to create my design. ​​This then went into a kiln to be fired and after it came out we had to put three coats of this clear glaze (that was kinda pink) on the top to complete the piece. It was then fired again and when it came out the glaze I had put on it was no longer pink but clear and like glass. 

Before choosing my design of a sun and a positive quote to o with the sun I went through the process of a couple of other ideas. I thought of doing an ocean but decided against it because it would have just ended up being a lot of lines. I also considered doing some mushrooms but I couldn't think of a mushroom design that I would have been able to execute and have it look the way I desired it to look. Once I had decided I was going to do a sun, I went through a couple of different designs before deciding on my final one.