Friday

04.16.10 I scritch, therefore I am


Seventeen.

That's the current count of Xacto blades dulled by scritching a roany sabino pattern onto a "Tuesday" mule ceramic that I'm working on this week.

I bet 40 blades  will find their way into the sharps container by the time all the scritching is done.

The brown areas you see are unfired underglaze, the white is bisque fired earthenware.  Each "hair" is a tiny stroke of a  #11 blade cutting through underglaze to reveal the white underneath.

Technically, you should call this technique "sgraffito".  I can never pronounce that.  "Scritch" is the sound of the blade against bisque ware. Scritch, scritch scritch...

Why all this scritching and scratching?  For some time, I have been dying to paint one of my "Tuesday" sculptures a similar color to this wonderful mule.  She was photographed at the Western Idaho Fair Mule show several years ago.  So many layers of color and roaning -- very fun!

Back to scritching  ~ Lynn

P.S. I've taken a bunch of photos of this process and will post them with a more in-depth description for you soon.  Check back later!
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5 comments:

  1. melApril 16, 2010 at 5:35 PM

    Oo-oo-ooh! How fun! Well, maybe not when you're doing it, but the results are lovely.

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  2. AnonymousApril 19, 2010 at 6:08 PM

    Yeah, I want to see more scritching. Good lookin' mule, too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. merci33April 20, 2010 at 11:01 AM

    I love this word scritching...and I look forward to seeing the results of 30 #11 blades invested in the scritch.

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  4. Lynn A. FraleyApril 21, 2010 at 10:03 AM

    Thanks everyone! Five more hours of scritching yesterday, this first go 'round is nearly complete. You'll see more photos soon!

    ReplyDelete
  5. DebMay 3, 2010 at 10:08 AM

    Scritching - sounds like a word my Grandmother would use - 'scritch scratch!'
    And you, my friend, are the master of scritching! I can't wait to see the final product & find out how many blades were used. :)

    ReplyDelete