Exploring drawing marks using stronger and weaker cobalt oxide on tin glazed platters.

I enjoyed a day decorating a couple of platters I had made using the 'drop' method and glazed with tin glaze. This type of decoration is called maiolica, where the painting is with oxides ( or diluted underglaze colours) ontop of a tin glaze.

This is in contrast with majolica, which is painting with coloured glazes.

The platters were made out of scarva, grogged earthenware clay, (ES60) to give the platters strength due to their style and size. I very much admired the slightly 'rustic ' appearance of Susan Hall's platters - she used grogged and heavily grogged clay. I am also investigating borders, and have used a native African design for two sides of the dish with the lioness. I found these on Google, but have just uncovered this morning, some native American designs which were kept from the magazine, National Geographic by my mother.

I was photographing the two native American pots she brought back from the States in the fifties. I found the pages inside!

Looking at these patterns loosely it appears that the first pot of Mum's may have been of the San Domingo style in Pueblo pottery.

I have not so far really been drawn to patterns, however using sgraffito, they suddenly assumed a life of their own, as a drawing tool to convey shading or the way hair of an animal lies. The above are native American designs. I have included a lot of information about the area around Santa Fe (where Mum was working in the 50's) in my Reflective Folder. I correspond with a friend of Mum's, daughter, who sends me these gems of information in emails. It seemed like the jigsaw pieces of Mum's life fitting together.

Africa has also got many patterns in its indigenous, ( and modern day ) art. Everywhere you look there are repetitions of shapes, colours, textures and lines laid out in different arrangements.

African textiles have patterns and geometric shapes or symbols that tell stories about the traditions of the different tribes which created them. The four main fabric patterns used by the tribes and villages of Africa are Adinkra, Kente, Bogolanfini and Ankara.

The first maiolica platter which I made is decorated with a lioness from South Lakes Animal Park with a simple native African border pattern. I enjoyed the drawing process ( from my sketches) and the effect of strong and weak oxide (cobalt) was investigated in relation to shading. I added a touch of colour in the border with copper oxide solution and red underglaze.

The second platter was decorated using black underglaze paint (thinned with water) and yellow/red/orange underglaze colours sponged or painted on. I hoped the effect created by a natural sponge was a bit like the spots on these Cheetah (drawn at South Lakes Safari Zoo).

The edges of the platter were torn, a line of copper oxide and a line of honey glaze dribbled from a slip trailer to border the tin glazed area. It will be interesting ( and experimental) to see how this turns out!

This is how the results of these test pieces turned out...

I was pleased with this dish...the tin glaze was a good milky white ( a few pits - maybe soaked for a bit long....I think I gave them 15 mins at 1075.)

I liked the detail of the border, this was heavily grogged clay and the torn edges were in keeping with the type of clay. Predictably the copper oxide border reacted green on the tin glaze and a bit metallic under the honey glaze ( lead sesq) which was slip trailed over round the border. An interesting detail in the corner....the honey glaze, copper oxide and honey glaze reacted well together, producing an interesting effect.

This dish too was pleasing, with the different dilutions of cobalt oxide producing a tonal shading effect. By this time I can guess how strong the cobalt oxide/water mixture is by drawing a line on the desk ( then wiping it off ). The African pattern on the border added interest, and quite relevant as wildlife conservation (in Africa ) is increasingly actively involving indigenous people.