The Process

My process is very simple, about as primitive as you can get, but I always have a problem explaining it very well. I'm going to try to do it here with the help of some visual aids.

First I throw the pots in terracotta or a new white clay body, both of which are boxed (commercial) clays. For any potters out there who like to geek out about equiptment, I use a shimpo whisper, which I have to say is the best electric wheel there is. Instead of the traditional belt driven wheel , it works by unholy magic or something because it is totally silent and very powerful.

Next I let the blank pots dry until they are leather hard.

Now I roll the pots across my woodblock patterns, working the design into the surface by pressing from the inside of the pot. This is the trickiest part and it's the step where I lose the most pots.

After the patterning I trim the bases. When the bases are trimmed I let the pots dry, then apply layers of slip clay, usually starting with white and ending with black. Sorry I don't have any pics of this but there really is not much to see.

Now the magic happens. After the slip layers are dry I carefully sand back through them with a scouring pad. It is kind of an archaeological process, as I sand the different colors emerge and then the pattern strarts coming through. In the picture I am just using a black slip over a white clay body, which gives a dramatic / photogenic result. I built a special vacuum table to deal with the immense amount of dust I create and I also wear a respirator.



After the pots are sanded I bisque fire them, then glaze them and fire them again to 1945 degrees.