Sgraffito

This last couple of weeks, I've been continuing my exploration of surface design techniques and have been learning all about Sgraffito. I love it... It’s slow and methodical, not me at all, but the results can be amazing!

Sgraffito box by Neva Fiumara

Sgraffito and sgraffiti come from the Italian word graffiare ("to scratch"), ultimately from the Greek γράφειν (gráphein, "to write"). Related terms include graffito and graffiti.

“During the 16th century renaissance in Italy,  Sgraffito was utilised in wall art,  pottery decoration and canvas paintings. Sgraffito on walls has been used in Europe since classical times and its origins go back to Africa and Japan. It came to Europe through the Middle East. Because the Muslims were forbidden to eat from any metal wares, they had developed the decorative side of pottery to high degree. This also included the use of a sgraffito decoration. Both the North African potters and Spanish potters were imported into Italy to share their skills and techniques.  During the Reconquista of Spain, Spanish Muslim potters fled to North Africa, and to Italy and Byzantium, where their knowledge merged with the techniques of local potters to create new and exciting styles of pottery for Renaissance patrons of art.”

http://www.veniceclayartists.com/ (a fantastic reference website for all types of ceramic art)

House covered with sgraffito in the village of Pyrgi.

Palazzo Massimo Istoriato: a fading palace facade in Rome by Polidoro da Caravaggio and Maturino da Firenze, 1523.

In ceramics, sgraffito work is created by coating your unfired piece with a coloured slip or underglaze and scratching or carving through the surface to reveal the colour below.  I’ve only tried a couple of designs so far, but I have plans to reduce them down to bead size and make them wearable.

The first was a slab formed bowl. It's made from white stoneware with black slip which was carved through with a wire loop tool to create the design.

Sgraffito bowl

And another on one of my (badly) wheel thrown beakers.

Sgraffito beaker

I love to draw, carve and add colour, so this technique is all of my favourite things rolled in to one! It's also very relaxing to do. 

Looking around, I found lots of bead makers already using this fabulous ancient technique. And it isn’t just limited to beads, it can also be used in enamelling, polymer & painting. 

jenniferwilfong.blogspot.co.uk

https://squareup.com/market/angela-gerhard-jewelry

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/humblebeads

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScorchedEarthonEtsy

https://www.flickr.com/photos/beadworx/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/baubukas/

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/somethingtodobeads

The possibilities for using this ancient art are endless, and it's one of those techniques where your own personal style can really shine through!

Inspiration from the East

I’ve always been a little bit in love with Japanese culture. Their dress, traditions and landscapes are truly inspiring. They seem to create everything just perfectly, from gardens to architecture to art. You can feel their heritage running through it. 

Every year they celebrate the flowering of cherry trees. The tradition is called Ohanami and means  'go and watch the Sakura blossoms'

I think it’s the sense of history that runs through their lives that I find most appealing. Traditions started thousands of years ago are still followed to this day.

Koishikawa Korakuen garden in Tokyo was created in 1629 and is now surrounded by office buildings.

And they proudly pass these traditions through to their children to keep them alive. Our house is currently joining in with some of their culture by watching Totoro on repeat… a wonderful animated story of two Japanese children who befriend woodland spirits and are rewarded with nuts and seeds to plant in their garden. The Japanese believe that the world is fully spiritually alive which I think is a wonderful belief to have!

Totoro and friends making the trees grow.

Their traditional dress is Kimono. It literally means ‘thing to wear’ 

A little bit fancier than it's name suggests!

They are made from silk and can be suited to any occasion, including weddings, geisha and maiko, and were even part of the armour worn by samurai.

Vintage Japanese doll in Samurai armour

Kimono have no pockets, so to carry their medicines, brushes, tobacco or money, wearers would either tuck them in to the sleeves, or wear them on their belts in hanging Sagemono (little boxes). The boxes were hung from a cord with ojime (a sliding bead) and the cord was passed behind the belt and held in place with a netsuke to stop it from slipping through. It’s the netsuke that particularly appeals to me. They are little carvings, made from wood, precious stones, ivory, shell or metal and could be seen as a giant bead. 

Wearing an Inro (medicine box) held in place with a netsuke.

Manjunetsuke

There are many different types of netsuke and are carved to represent all kinds of objects including flora and fauna, heroes, mystical beasts and daily activities and many were believed to be talismans. 

Plum Blossom Netsuke

Street performers

Ivory Dragon

Rabbit with the moon

I’m currently waiting for a book delivery from Amazon on some of the carving techniques which I hope will transfer to clay sculpting, but already inspired by these tiny carvings, I have been trying out some miniature designs of my own. 

New tools!

I recently treated myself to a new set of tools so tested them out on some porcelain clay. 

Forest Bead

Trees

My favourite subject - a running hare

They're not a patch on the proper netsuke, but I really like how they turned out, a little 3dimensional picture you can wear! I hope to have some free time to make more soon! 

Disclaimer: This post does not in any way condone the use of ivory. The sample shown is purely for art appreciation purposes and should be viewed in the context of the time in which it was created. 

Hand drawn beads - Tutorial

I love to make beads and buttons from moulds, but sometimes I just can’t be bothered to get out all the equipment for mould making, or I don’t want to wait the drying/curing time. I’m a spontaneous worker and when the idea strikes, I need to get on with stuff. 

To make detailed consistent beads, I use a cheat with my printer. I was making, or trying to make a sundial one day and printed out the positions for the gnomon and placed it on the clay. The image transferred. The sundial was terrible and was banished to the back of the garage, but that got me thinking about other ways I could use this technique. 

To try this out yourself, you need an inkjet printer, paper, clay and a pointy rubber tool.

Print out your image in reverse. Bold, plain black images are the most successful. 

Cut around the image as closely as you can.

Make a bead in your chosen clay slightly larger than your image. You will get a clearer print in light coloured clays, I’m using porcelain.

Line up the image and press on to the bead image side down.

Give it a gentle rub with your finger for about 10 seconds.

Remove the paper and the image should have transferred on to the wet clay.

This is my favourite tool, you will need something similar to trace around the image. I’ve found a rubber tool is best as it doesn’t tear up the clay too much as you draw around your image. 

Draw around the design. Don’t worry too much at this point if the design had raised rough looking areas. You need to concentrate on getting your lines nice and smooth.

Once you have finished leave the bead to dry.

Once dry, take a damp cloth (I use baby wipes) and gently smooth over your image. The rough bits will disappear. You may need to go back in with your tool to pick any bits that have wiped in to the lines of your design.

Bisque fire and glaze fire your bead. To get a bold effect, I glaze the whole bead and then wipe the glaze from the front of the design so that the colour is left in the carving.

And here’s my finished bead.

What I like most about this technique is you get good consistency in your designs, but each one is slightly different and has that handmade touch.

I hope you find this tutorial helpful, feel free to use this technique to create your own designs!

Thanks for reading!

Caroline

http://www.blueberribeads.co.uk

Crazy for Clay

Just another in the continuing series of updates from Starry Road Studio.... Needless to say, I have been knee deep in clay, relishing with joy the ability to work in this medium again after a so long a time away while transitioning from KY to NY over the past year. Yes, that's right, it has been nearly a YEAR since I packed up and left KY to return to NY. Most of my studio has been packed up in storage and only in recent weeks have I begun the slow process of getting everything set up here. I was dying to get my pottery wheel set up and thankfully I managed to throw a few pots this past week. I still have to get my spray booth set up for glazing, but for now I'll use some dipping glazes for these pots.

I am continuing to explore beads, creating a variety of new forms and ideas.

Continuing in my series of woodland-themed beads, I finally got started on a new design for "Camping Beads", based on sketches from late last summer. I blogged about it here.

I am having a blast playing with various textures. I am especially LOVING wood. This started with some woodland themed pieces (logs, trees, etc.). I am carrying it over into my line of ancient amulets and beads. I wanted to convey the sense of the ancient along with the wood texture, so I created a texture I am calling "Petrified Wood" (as seen in the dark brown pieces below). I love the mossy old stone (in the lighter, greenish pieces), and ancient wood look of these...

I plan to explore these textures in pottery. I can't wait! Here's an idea with a sort of plant form growing out of a "tree" base. I will throw this in porcelain and sculpt it after. I'll post pictures when I get around to it. And perhaps it will inform new designs for beads too. Stay tuned!