Plan #9

This looks pretty sloppy, but it’s actually perfect for this experiment.

I’ve got 12 bowls that have been slip stenciled with a stiff basic slip made out of my standard Cone 6 clay body (Laguna B-Mix). The stencils in this case are cut from a plastic contact paper sheet. Unlike the newsprint that I usually use, these won’t lay flush against the clay and the slip seeps underneath when and where it can…  

What these plastic stencils do have is a bit of weight to them, so over most of the design, the thickness of the plastic gives a very distinct sharp transition between slip and the thrown clay body.

Perfect…

Now when the bowls are given their final coat of studio Crackle Glaze, the crazing that grows in the surface will incorporate the transitions into shear lines and reveal the design. After firing, the design should be a ghost in the crazing of the glaze… well that’s the jib…, that’s the plan anyway, but we’ll see …