15. DECORATIVE PROCESSES

Materials — piece of gray pottery clay about 10" square; colored slips, terra cotta, black, and blue

Tools - piece of cloth ½ yard square; 3 sticks, ½ x 1" x 8"; plaster bat 6" x 6"; camel's hair brushes #4 and #8; ⅛" wire tool; pointed tool; a variety of sharp tools; wire screening; small irrigating syringe; knife

The surface of an object may be treated in a number of ways to enrich the design and mate­rial of the object. But the application of the decoration may destroy the design of the pot­tery or sculpture if it is not sensitively or thought­fully applied. Following are several exercises which are recommended to learn the simple decorative processes. They will provide the ex­perience for decorating other ceramic forms. Make five tiles, each to be decorated in a differ­ent way. (See Project X, for directions for mak­ing a tile.)

TEXTURE. Take one of the 6" x 6" tiles and in the spirit of experimentation try the following: Vary the surface in as many ways as possible-use fingers and tools, scratch or pierce the sur­face with a nail or any tool, use cloth or screen­ing, or any material whose texture can be im­pressed. Fill an area with each texture until you have tried several and the surface of the tile is covered (Figure 1). Don't attempt to make a design.

FREE BRUSH. Decoration can be applied with colored slips and a brush. (See Introduction, page 14, for making and mixing colored slips.) Take your second tile and make a design with one or more colored slips. Do not attempt anything ambitious, but perhaps divide the tile in bands of varying widths. Use one color and cross with bands of another color, or draw a composi­tion of rectangles, outlining some, and filling in others (Figure 2). Black and terra cotta, or a sin­gle color such as blue on gray clay, will be effective. Be sure that the slip is like thick cream (add water and stir if too thick) and apply it with a camel's hair brush, #8 for big areas and #4 for small areas and stripes. Adjust the consistency of the slip to the dampness of the tile. A damp tile needs a thick slip, and a fairly dry tile*can take a thin slip.

SGRAFFITO (scratched decoration). This is a simple process which lends itself to linear de­sign and mass areas. Paint an even coat of slip over your third tile. Cover the whole surface and make sure you choose a slip that contrasts with the clay. Allow the slip to become firm, then with a sharp tool, such as a ⅛" wire tool or a bobby pin, scratch into the surface. Try a free line like a doodle (Figure 3). You can cut away solid areas by scraping the surface with a knife or you can make textures by scratching some of the areas into pattern effects as you did with the first tile, only now try to fit the textures with the general design.

Figure 4—Pottery with free brush design by an adult student.

Figure 1—Texture. Surface is indented or raised to form a pattern.                   Figure 2—Free brush. Colored slip is ap­plied freehand with a brush.           Figure 3 — Sgraffito. The design is scratched through a colored slip, reveal­ing the contrasting color or value of the body of the piece.

SLIP TRACING. This process is very much like putting decoration on a cake. A small irrigating syringe, with a hard rubber nozzle and flexible rubber bulb, is filled with colored slip and the design is drawn on the surface. You can plan a design beforehand, or just try swirls or straight lines applied freely with the slip (Figure 6). Use your fourth tile and try your hand. Check your slip with the dampness of the tile, a thick slip for a damp tile, and a thin slip for a fairly dry tile. If you get dribbles or uneven lines, the slip is probably too watery. Keep trying until you have the right control. Let whatever happens be your design.

CARVING AND MODELING. Decoration may be carved into the surface or built upon it. With your last tile try both kinds. Draw two or three interlocking geometric shapes (Figure 7). First outline the shapes with a pointed tool about ⅛" into the tile, then with a wire tool cut away the surface of one of the shapes until it is about ⅛" below the surface of the tile. You can add clay to the second shape, bringing it into relief. Vary the surface of the third shape so that it is below the surface at one end and above the surface at the other. Sponge the tile lightly to give a smooth effect. Do not copy the design shown on the adjoining page. It is merely used as an illus­tration. Select three geometric shapes of differ­ent sizes and organize them in a balanced plan of your own.

Figure 5-Plate, "Tulip Ware," sgraffito decoration. Pennsylvania, 1810. Photo from the MetropolitanMuseum of Art.

Figure 6—Slip tracing. Slip applied with a hand syringe.

Figure 7—Carving and modeling. The de­sign is made by cutting away or adding clay to the surface of the piece.

Figure 9-" Hispano-Moresque" Jar, Span­ish, c. XIII Century. The single motives are stamped, the narrow bands applied and carved. Photo from the MetropolitanMu­seum of Art.

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