My Process

I hand build my ceramic sculptures from native Colorado stoneware clay. This reduces the environmental impact of trucking heavy clay across country and also supports local businesses.

Forming The Ceramic Structure

I first form slabs of the white clay, then assemble the slabs into cylinders or other basic vessel shapes. Next, I twist and shape the flexible clay to add sensuous curves and unique shapes.

Once the clay sculpture is formed, I then modify the surface with one or more decorative techniques: slip-trailing, stamping and Sgrafitto (carving).

Slip -Trailing

Slip-trailing was used heavily in medieval potteries of Northern Europe and Great Britain. I’ve written a blog post showing examples of the technique, which I use fairly extensively in my ceramics. As I note in the short video below, the trick to using slip-trail in the dry climate of Colorado is timing the application: both the slip itself and the ceramic surface to which it is applied must be moist enough to adhere but not so moist that the sculpture deforms as I rotate it during the application.

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2023) “” Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/image/media-49202

Stamping The Surface

I sometimes use stamps in my ceramic pieces, most typically around the base but sometimes elsewhere on the piece. I make some stamps. I’ve acquired other stamps during travels in Asia and Latin America. I use a variety of typographic stamps in my work.

Sgrafitto (Carving) The Surface

I perhaps use Sgrafitto most extensively in my ceramic work. The process involves carving through a surface layer of 1 material (I use a black underglaze) to reveal the underlying clay. Here is a video explaining how I use Sgrafitto as surface decoration.

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