#earthernware

the wing plate was marbled clay & terracotta, and the underside REALLY shows it

bonus bisqueware snake to match the rest of the bisqueware pics. i am disappointed that the green underglaze was lighter than i remembered and muddied all the foliage :( wanted to make it clear in the main post so i chose a photo i took when i had just finished carving.

and the kinda wonky concept design that kicked off all 3! i didnt originally plan to carve each individual scale and leaf .....

process ramble time !!! my studio doesnt have the right type of wheels to use a bat on so i couldnt throw these. which disappointed me at first because handbuilt plates usually look reallyyy wacky and i get quite self concious over imperfections in my clay forms. i developed a really good process to get these as pretty as possible though! I used a convex slump mold to get the shape- convex molds are the best fo get a consistant & uniform face on each plate. usually i do this before the weekend, so when i come back i can carve away all the imperfections on a footing wheel without deforming the plate.

i usually keep it on a mold throughout the entire process- once ive carved the bottom i flip it over and set it in a concave mold to support the rim. this also helps with carving, so the wheels little hands can grab onto the mold and dont interfere with my work. when the plate looks all smooth and nice, i spend the rest of the day underglazing, then i can move on to carving it all away! it took only about 3-4 days of studio time to carve each plates design after it was footed, leaving me the last two days of the week to prep my clay for the next one!

im really happy with how these turned out, they taught me a lot about making mistakes with ceramics and really helped me get confident with my process. honestly it was way easier than my typical sculpture work, cause i already have a ton of experience with the 2D aspects of these designs, while i still have a lot to learn about sculpting even after almost three years of working with clay :3 the loss of detail in the snake's foliage is still disheartening but hell! every piece ive ever made has disappointed me and it only keeps me creating. someday i WILL make something perfect with my own two hands. and no amount of bad glaze choices along the way can fucking stop me.