Back in October I was fortunate enough to attend a workshop conducted by Ned Foltz, an accomplished ceramicist who specializes in traditional Pennsylvania German Redware pottery. Check out his website Foltz Pottery. A former art teacher, Ned has been making traditional redware for around 50 years now, and it was a real treat to spend a day learning from him. The workshop focused on two decorative techniques that Ned routinely uses on his pots: slip trailing and sgraffito. The technique that really inspired me was the sgraffito.
 These sun coasters were created using the sgraffito technique. Each design was carved through the white slip that was applied to the surface of a red tile. The coasters were glazed in reds, oranges and yellows. |
Basically, sgraffito is a carving technique. A contrasting colored slip is applied to the surface of the clay. A design is then carved through the applied slip to reveal the natural clay color beneath. I have played around with sgraffito before, creating a few pieces here and there (see the coaster set to the right), and this workshop rekindled my interest in the technique.
Ned had made some blank redware plates using hump molds the night before the workshop. The plates were allowed to sit overnight in the studio under plastic so that they firmed up to a leather-hard state but did not become too dry. The day of the workshop, we painted a couple layers of Ned’s special yellow slip over the face of the plate with a soft bristled brush. The slip was allowed to dry for 30 min to an hour until it was no longer tacky and did not come off on the fingers when touched.
And then the fun part: sgraffitoing! Ned had a bunch of reference books full of traditional Pennsylvania German designs available to us as inspiration. I decided to use my own design, a variation of the sun motif I play around with quite a bit, and drew my sketch on a piece of newsprint that would become a template for my carving. I placed the template over the face of the plate, and using a ball tool, carefully traced the design onto the plate. The template was then removed and the traced lines used as guides for carving into the slip.
Ned had made some blank redware plates using hump molds the night before the workshop. The plates were allowed to sit overnight in the studio under plastic so that they firmed up to a leather-hard state but did not become too dry. The day of the workshop, we painted a couple layers of Ned’s special yellow slip over the face of the plate with a soft bristled brush. The slip was allowed to dry for 30 min to an hour until it was no longer tacky and did not come off on the fingers when touched.
And then the fun part: sgraffitoing! Ned had a bunch of reference books full of traditional Pennsylvania German designs available to us as inspiration. I decided to use my own design, a variation of the sun motif I play around with quite a bit, and drew my sketch on a piece of newsprint that would become a template for my carving. I placed the template over the face of the plate, and using a ball tool, carefully traced the design onto the plate. The template was then removed and the traced lines used as guides for carving into the slip.
Pen tool used for carving clay.
Ned’s favorite sgraffito tool is a pen tool which has a spade-like tip and it works basically like a pen. The tip is used to carve (“write”) the design into the clay. The pen tool pictured below has a small brush on the end which it quite useful for sweeping away the little bits of clay that are removed from the plate while carving.
After we carved the plates, they were allowed to dry fully before being bisque fired. After bisquing, the plates were glazed. Ned was kind enough to fire and glaze our plates for us. Since the slip and clay are colored, only a clear glaze was needed over the face of the plate. Accent dots of transparent green glaze were also applied sparingly to add a bit of interest to the design. The bottom of the plate was left unglazed. The plate was then fired again to the appropriate maturing temperature. Ned uses earthenware, so the firing temperatures are lower than what I am used to firing stoneware.
I was really quite impressed with the resulting plate. The yellow of my plate pictured below is the colored slip, and the red is the color of the clay beneath. The contrasting red and yellow definitely make an eye-catching piece! Now off to the studio to master the technique!
After we carved the plates, they were allowed to dry fully before being bisque fired. After bisquing, the plates were glazed. Ned was kind enough to fire and glaze our plates for us. Since the slip and clay are colored, only a clear glaze was needed over the face of the plate. Accent dots of transparent green glaze were also applied sparingly to add a bit of interest to the design. The bottom of the plate was left unglazed. The plate was then fired again to the appropriate maturing temperature. Ned uses earthenware, so the firing temperatures are lower than what I am used to firing stoneware.
I was really quite impressed with the resulting plate. The yellow of my plate pictured below is the colored slip, and the red is the color of the clay beneath. The contrasting red and yellow definitely make an eye-catching piece! Now off to the studio to master the technique!
Finished Redware Sgraffito Sun Plate from the Ned Foltz Workshop.
Check out the second installment of this post, Sgraffito Plates and Such, Part 2: My Experiments, which explores the sgraffito process a bit more in depth.
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