Part 2.

So like I said before, I have all these bits and pieces of ideas in my journal and in my head.  Then I come out to the studio and I’m faced with a 3-d object ready to be decorated.  It’s very difficult to marry the deco to the pot in a successful manner. It is for me anyhow.

I do a little pencil sketch on the dry slip to get going, lay everything out, get the eyes right, or the socks in the right place.  Then I sit down and dig in.  I try to work fairly quickly with the tool to scratch into the slip.  If I make a mistake I improvise and turn that into part of the drawing (this is where working in pen and ink has helped me).  This sharp tool that I’m using with the angled point really cuts the slip away, I let the tool move and see what happens.  I pull or push the tool, and this gives different results.  I can lighten up on the pressure or bear down to get a mark.  The pencil outline guides me but it’s just a guide, the final drawing comes from working quickly with the steel tool.

I think working quickly with the final drawing is best.  I pay attention to what the marks look like and I don’t hesitate when my hand automatically decides to do something.  I just go and hope it’s good.  When I’m finished I don’t mess with it much.  No use in killing it by over thinking it.

As far as composition goes I try to work that out in the sketch book or by looking back at pots I have previously made that I think worked well.  I also look at other potters works that I admire who are good at composition or at historical pots.  Drawing in my journal has been by far the thing that has helped me the most though.

Any more thoughts or comments? Let me know…it’s fun for me to try and put this down in writing.