Turquoise sgraffito plate

Fired another sgraffito piece.  This time I used underglaze instead of making a slip.  I understood it would make a difference but wanted to see for myself. I painted about 5 layers of turquoise on the plate.  It looked completely opaque to my eye, but in glazing you can see it wasn't.

It doesn't look bad by any means, but it isn't what I'm looking for.  I am happy that the piece didn't warp!  Yea! It's a fun piece and Jordan loves it, but I'm going to try to sell it on etsy.  The color is beautiful. 

Taking a stab at sgraffito

I have two pieces of pottery that I made using the sgraffito techniques.   This is definately a technique that speaks to me.  Both have issues when firing.  Warping of the one with the tiny sgraffito lines.  Arggh.  I can't express how frustrated I get with warping of this white clay.   I purposely took these pictures so you hopefully can't tell it warped. It's supposed to dip to the center from left to right....it's warping front to back that I didn't like. 

The other piece in green and black has a tiny defect in it.  A hair had gotten caught in the slip when I applied it.  I know, that sounds kinda gross, doesn't it.  Hey, people shed.  I pulled it out and brushed over it.  I thought you couldn't see it, but you hold it just right in the light you can see it...darn, darn.  I thought I may be able to sell this plate.  Oh well.....

I hate warping!

Ok. I guess everyone has something about working with clay that frustrates them.  For me, it is warping.  My understanding is that it is worse with handbuilt pieces which is what I work on.  I just took some pieces out of the kiln in which warpage raised its ugly head. 

In the Brooklyn red clay I made a few pieces.  I hadn't done any coil weaving since I've been back at Pam's so I decided to copy one of her pieces.  She's a pro at the weaving!  Actually the weaving was the easiest part for me.  I still have problems with making my edges smooth and attaching feet so my pieces are level.  This piece did end up level, but the edges still need improvement. And, my strips aren't exactly straight.  Hey, it's handmade....give me a break.  This is fired at cone 6 and glazed in my favorite opal:

I also made a textured platter/bowl which is glazed in overlapping Opal and Randy's Red.  I didn't put a foot on this piece and it's a tiny bit wobbly, but not bad.  Warping was a little problem.

Also in red clay, I made a piece similar to the one I gave my friend's daughter when she announced her engagement.  It's a simple oval platter which is glazed in overlapping Randy's Red and Nickel Matt.  I added a small amount of Opal drops on top. I like this piece.

I wanted to try sgraffito carving on the white clay.  I made some slip colored with chrome and brushed it on the soft clay.  Then I carved.  I think I should have let it get a bit harder before carving, maybe leather hard. This piece warped pretty badly on the ends.  Arggh. The warping happened during both bisque and glaze firing.  That surprised me a bit.  Here's a picture after bisque firing.  The slip color is pretty accurate. 

 Now here's a picture after applying a clear glaze and firing to cone 6

The deep green color really surprised me.  I loved doing this sgraffito, especially on the white clay.  I plan to keep working on fixing the warping problem.