Decorating Techniques on the various states of clay

Decorating Techniques on the various states of clay

Soft

Paddling – stick used to smooth the wall and strengthen the joins, and at the same time the surface is textured.

Inscribing (roulettes, combing, stamping) – scratching designs into the clay

Agate – mixing two different colors of clay

                               

Leather-hard

Fluting – making grooves or furrows on the surfaces of thrown pieces

Faceting – cut facets evenly into thrown pieces

Openwork – the walls of a piece are perforated or fretted

Carving – cutting below the surface of a piece

Cloisonné – fine strips of clay are attached to the surface used only on flat surfaces, after bisque-firing glazes are applied to the spaces

Relief – adding pieces of clay to the surface

Combing – a tube or a quill of a feather is used to mix different-colored engobes either in parallel or at a different angle

Marbling – different color engobes are applied to the surface and the piece is moved around to mix engobes

Burnishing - to polish clay while it is in the greenware stage by rubbing it with a smooth tool

Encrusting – a colored clay is embedded into a different color

Dry

Oxides – painted onto the surface of a piece

Sgraffito – scratching designs through colored slip to allow the body color to show through

Bisque

Underglaze – glaze used to add color to a piece with a matt finish unless covered with clear glaze, can come in the form of pencils or watercolors too

Wax Resist – wax can be used as a resist to draw motifs that you want to keep free of glaze

Resists –anything that is used to keep areas free of glaze, examples: paper, tape, etc.

Superimposing Glazes – different glazes are applied over the top of each other is some manner, results are difficult to predict