The second week of this three-week workshop involved decorating the platters that we had made the week prior as well as any pieces that we had brought from our own studios.  Chris Baumann’s business partner Stacy Stanhope was back from Vermont; as a student, I learned several different techniques from these two artists.

The first technique was to create a bas-relief on the platters from the previous class. We each had a platter or two with a thin skin of porcelain over Lizella . We drew broad patterns on the platters then painted part of the pattern with shellac. After the shellac dried we started wiping away the porcelain with wet sponges. The shellac will burn off in the kiln leaving a great contrast between the white porcelain and the dark Lizella clay. It will also leave a relief texture. I have one piece where the porcelain is very thick; this gave quite a deep bas-relief. I’ve used a variation of this technique on porcelain pieces without any other clay underneath; I’m excited to see the results of this adaptation.

Greenware Platters

Next we did some sgraffito on greenware. This process involves coating a piece with a thin coat of slip or under glaze and then scratching through the veneer to reveal the color of the clay body underneath. We put black underglaze over light colored stoneware. One student also coated the black underglaze with wax before scratching the surface which is supposed to keep the lines cleaner. The drawing I did has very fine lines and no major areas of glaze removal. Chris is worried that it will be too dark and not show much, if any, flashing. I might just be wasting the salt glaze on this piece, we’ll see.

When we were done with the sgraffito pieces we did some work with wax resists . We painted a pattern onto our bisque pieces and then glazed the entire piece. The glaze will not stick wherever the pot is waxed. Just like the shellac on the previous pieces, the wax will burn off in the kiln. When one does this on a pot that is fired in an electric or gas kiln the wax will reveal the raw clay body. When this is done in the salt kiln the salt should glaze the entire piece with a variance in color between the standard glazed areas and the waxed areas.

Bisque pots

The hardest part for everyone in using these techniques was the need to visualize backwards as we were working with negatives. A lot of thought needs to be put into which part of a design is staying and which part is being removed by the wax, shellac or scratched off in the sgraffito. If a mistake is made on sgraffito more glaze can be added to cover the mistake, wax can be burned off with a torch but shellac is not as forgiving so careful planning is recommended.

Next Saturday we unload the kiln, I can’t wait!