Sgraffito Plate
This piece was made by rolling out a slap of clay, and placing it over a mold of a square shaped plate. The clay was dried to a leather hard state and then taken off the mold. Then the sides of the plate were rasped to create even sides, smooth edges, and even corners. The plate was the painted with three coats of black paint and the design was traced on to the plate using a pen to create a visible imprint in the clay. Next, the design was scratched onto the plate by using metal and wooden tools to scatch away the paint where the design was imprinted. The plate was then fired, glazed in clear glaze, and fired again. A good sgraffito piece has clearly defined black and white areas, has straight lines, and equal areas of black and white.