January 2023 students have a Maiolica taster as one of their pottery projects

If you’ve traveled in southern Europe, you’ll have seen maiolica in tiles on the houses and dishes in souvenir shops. Dutch “blue Delft” is also maiolica. However, the technique was first developed by Islamic potters as a way to imitate Chinese porcelain. They loved it for the bright colours that they weren’t able to produce in their earthenware.  

I love it for the pillowy softness of the glaze and potential for spontaneous brushwork.

The essence of maiolica involves the use of a white opaque glaze on an earthenware body. What is special about the process is that the pigments – colouring stains and oxides – are applied to the unfired surface of the glaze. They become fused with the glaze in the final glaze firing. The whiteness of the glaze is like a canvas that provides a great ground for colour.

Maiolica Painting techniques

Maiolica class overview

1. Create a small slump mold tray from terracotta earthenware.
2. After bisque firing, dip it in the thick, creamy white glaze. This is tricky because the glaze is not at all forgiving. Fingerprints stay fingerprints and if the glaze is too thick, it may crawl.
3. AT HOME: Create design. Look in pattern books, online and read this post, for ideas. Consider the painting techniques and colours below. Have a plan – but don’t over plan! Leave some room for spontaneity when the brush is in your hand.
4. Paint. Maiolica stains can be painted like watercolour or single colours can be used to create vibrant borders and patterns. The design can first be drawn with a pencil onto the form. The pencil will burn out in the kiln.

Even if you have good penmanship, Sgraffito lettering can be quite difficult to get right.

For one thing, you’re working on a spherical surface. That’s more difficult than writing on paper. Also, instead of a pen or pencil, you’re using a pointed tool to write your sgraffito lettering. It has a different resistance on the writing surface and can feel clumsy. Also, you have to fit your text into a restricted and generally small space. Worst of all, you only get one chance to get it right! Mistakes can be repaired, they’re a pain.

If you have some time, this will help you get it right:

On Paper

• Figure out where to place your lettering on your pot. Sketch it out. Work around any sprigs or sculptural features.
• Sketch your text on paper so you’ll be sure it will fit into the space on your pottery. How large can the letters be? Where do you need to break the lines?

On your Pot

• Draw rule lines for your letters on your pot. If the slip isn’t too soft, you can use a pencil. Otherwise, a brush dipped in food colouring will work. They’ll burn away in the kiln.
• Lightly sketch on your text to get the spacing right
• Work slowly and calmly

Types of Letters

Roman Capitals

How to do Roman Capitals

This technique works well for capital letters but can be also used for lower case letters. It’s useful because the letters are not slanted and the “filling in” can hide poor spacing or letter forms.

Print, Italic or Cursive letters

You can rely on your own penmanship – and quirky features can be charming. This works best if the slip is still quite soft. Your pointed tool will glide like through butter! However, if the slip is very dry, it’s a scratchy old business.

Historically, pottery in the UK was made by small, rural potteries that were scattered throughout the country. They dug the clay from their own ground and formed it into the rustic wares needed by their local communities.

By the 17th century, potters learned how to use slip as an inexpensive way to decorate their products. Slipware is made using a variety of techniques. Generally, a contrasting colour of slip (watery clay) is applied to a form and then manipulated to create a decorative effect. This decoration can range from a simple band of coloured slip brushed onto a jug to the intricate lines of slip feathering on a plate.

By around 1900, most of the rural potteries had closed down. The development of the Staffordshire potteries resulted in their dominance over much of England. Also, people’s taste changed. They preferred porcelain and creamware over their local earthenware products. Slipware went out of fashion and only a few potteries in Cornwall and Devon carried on the tradition. In the 20’s, Bernard Leach and Shōji Hamada were interested in slipware for a time and brought the technique into studio pottery. It was taken up by one of their students, Michael Cardew, who made some very beautiful work. Today there are quite a few successful potters making slipware.

Slipware revival at the Corner Pottery Workshop!

I love slipware and always teach at least one of its techniques in each of my courses.

January 2023 Course Slipware Project

Our next project is inspired by a quirky item that was popular in the 1800s, commemorative money banks. They were generally decorated with chickens or other birds (nobody knows why) and often a child’s name and birthdate was written on the side with sgraffito. There aren’t many of these old banks around anymore because they had to be broken open to get at the savings.

The money bank is inspiration for this project but you can choose a different form if you prefer. We’ll use red terracotta clay covered by white slip and glazed with a honey glaze. You will need to decorate it with sgraffito plus some sort of sculptural object or one of the techniques below.

Swags, sprigs, ribs & pellets

These are techniques that add a sculptural dimension to the form. Decorative pieces of clay are attached to the form and then the slip is poured over them.

Sprigs

Sprigs are made by pressing a stamp into a ball of clay or pressing clay into a mould.

Swags & Ribs

Swags and Ribs are made with thin coils of clay. Notice that they can also be impressed with a tool to resemble a rope.

Pellets

Pellets are simply tiny flattened balls of clay layered to create an interesting texture.

The work of other potters (alive or dead!) inspires many of the pieces we make in my classes.

Over the course of the year, I accumulate quite a collection of pottery photos. These are photos of whatever catches my eye – in a museum or shop window or on somebody’s kitchen shelf. They give me ideas for interesting forms, techniques and decoration to use in my courses.

Friends and students also send me pictures of pots or bowls they’ve seen on their travels. These are so helpful!

If you have some photos, please email them to me. I’d love to see them.

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Pottery that may inspire some of our projects in 2023.

Form

Texture

Sgraffito

Decoration

Sculpture

Slipware

Student Submissions

It’s hard to make an excellent coil pot but students in the September course made some of the best coil pots I’ve ever seen.

The secret was to create a coil pattern that repeated in the body, foot and handles. They were painted with coloured slips and then finished with an oxide wash. Excellent work….there were no dog dinners here!

Slipware has been one of the most popular types of pottery in Britain for over four centuries. Find inspiration for your own work in examples of old and new slipware.

Old English Slipware

By the seventeenth century, potters used coloured slips to add simple but lively decoration to their pots.

Contemporary Slipware

UK potters still use slip to decorate their pots. Some use traditional designs and colours while others have a more contemporary style.

Corner Pottery Slipware

Last week you made terracotta plates and this week we’ll decorate them with a technique called slip trailing. The slip is in squeeze bottles and it’s a little like decorating a cake with an icing piping bag and nozzles. We’ll practice and work out your design in class. So, you don’t have any homework. However, If you’re really inspired, make a simple sketch. Have a look at these examples to get a feel for what you like.

Find inspiration for your pottery decoration in the colours and patterns in your house. Presumably, if you already have it, you like it.

Open your cupboards and cabinets for an easy way to find designs for your pottery. Maybe one of your favourite things has a colour or pattern that you can use on your pot.

I usually start in my kitchen.

I also have a collection of Staffordshire pottery shards. I like the old, homely, everyday patterns the best. They are sweet and must have been designed by sweet natured people for a sweet public.

I also look in my linen cupboard. I love embroidered pillow cases and tea towels. Some have patterns that I can reproduce on my pottery.

Your favourite pillow, carpet or candleholder might have the right pattern for your pottery. Either copy the colours and patterns – or modify them by using a different colour or simplifying the design.

Don’t wait until you have a paintbrush in your hand to decide how to decorate your pottery. Take a few moments to look around your house for inspiration. Make a sketch or photo and you’ll be ready to go!