Mountains and Mandalas

Ceramic · January · 2025

This piece was created using a slab of B3 clay that I cut into an abstract shape and attached kiln-safe metal to be used as a hook. I then laid on thick dabs of underglaze colors in the place I wanted, for example, white on the border. then I wrapped it in plastic to dry slowly into the leather hard stage so that it wouldn't warp. Although I took this precaution, it still warped slightly and cracked but I was able to repair it and place a weight so it would return to being flat. Once the piece was leather hard, I placed a layer of wax over it to ensure the underglaze wouldn't ruin my sgraffito process, which works wonders. I used a needle tool to draw Dahlias around the white and border everything before adding a pattern to each separate color. Then I drew a mandala in the sun and sky area. This piece did turn out darker than I anticipated, but I learned that next time I do something like this on dark clay, I need to put either slip or white underneath the dark colors.