Working with Clay: Ornamentation

 

There are a variety of ways you can add ornament and decoration to your vessel.

 

Drawing

You can draw lightly with a soft stick or dull pencil – the indentation in the clay will remain, even if the graphite does not.

 

Sgraffito

You can cut away with a loop tool to draw or make a pattern. This works best when you first paint a layer of underglaze.

 

Slip Trailing & Tube Lining

This is another form of drawing where you squeeze slip through a fine nozzle to draw lines over your piece. This slip can be mixed with underglaze. If all your goal is simply to use it for drawing, they call it slip trailing. They call it tube lining when you use the slip to section the piece into different shapes, which you then paint over with glaze (after bisque firing). The effect looks something like a stained glass window. Tube lining was very popular during the Art Nouveau and Arts & Crafts movements.

 

Stamping

You can make custom stamps to press into your work. Or, you can use found objects – dried seed pods, coarse tree bark, heavy-veined leaves, sea shells, burlap, doilies & lace, corrugated cardboard, old sweaters, kitchen utensils, screws, bolts, hex nuts, chains, bubble wrap, Lego, mesh fruit bags, buttons, jewelry, shoe soles.

 

NOTE: Some materials, especially smooth plastics and metals, can suction too tightly to your vessel so that they won’t come off without hurting it. You can avoid this by dusting the item with cornstarch before applying it to your piece.

 

Sprigging (Score & Slip Decorations)

You can join ornaments to the surface of your vessel – clay ornaments made from casts. Just score and slip as described above.

 

Underglaze

You can paint the vessel with underglaze. You can also use a ceramic pencil – to sketch with underglaze on your work. It gives the work a sketchy look. You can also put underglaze in a “slip trailer” to draw with. It’s a globbier line, more like pen & ink. You can underglaze a piece before or after bisque firing, but it bonds better if you paint it before firing. But, beware, if you apply it too thick to greenware, it can blister in the kiln. It’s also very delicate and hard to erase or fix – if you try to wipe away underglaze from greenware, you might hurt the surface of the piece.

 

Stencils with Underglaze

You can also use stencils while you paint the underglaze, to repeat shapes and make a pattern – this makes it easier for a set of dishes to match. Be sure to dab the underglaze over the stencil, don’t drag it or the edges will get fuzzy. Also, remove the stencil while the clay is still damp.

 

Lattice-Work

You can pierce the vessel to cut out decorative shapes and patterns. This is fine if the piece isn’t meant to hold liquids. This is great for candle holders, berry bowls, lanterns and luminaries. You can use a knife to cut out bits, or punch/drill holes. You can use a metal straw, a cookie cutter, or even the tip of a mechanical pencil.

 

NOTE: this technique reduces the strength of your piece, so it must be leather hard first, and follow these rules:

 

1. Maintain a Foundation – never cut around the bottom or top of the piece. Leave enough material so it doesn’t sag or buckle in the kiln.
2. Support the Interior with your hand while you cut.
3. Smooth the back edges before firing, so they’re not too sharp. You can wait an hour after cutting and gently brush away the crumbs with a paintbrush or kitching scrubbing pad.
4. Slow the drying process to prevent cracking. Wrap the piece in plastic for several days so the cut edges and solid base try at the exact same speed.

 

Texturing

You can texture your clay surface with the side of a twig, the ends of brushes, bird seed, a wooden spoon or paddle, or a wire brush.

 

Burnishing - You can burnish, or polish, the surface with the side of a spoon, or spoon handle. You can also use stones, your fingers, or a piece of soft leather. You can even put your hand in a dog poo bag and smooth the surface with it. It’s a long, tiring process, and can take hours. Then, they paint on 3 layers of a thin clay slip called Terra Sigillata, buffing it between each layer.