1. Sgraffito

2. What is sgraffito?
Besides a cool art word you can use to impress your parents and non-art friends
Sgraffito= a surface design technique that uses underglaze and leather hard clay
Very similar to lino printmaking

3. Sgraffito Pottery was once considered to be the vessels of kings
Sgraffito Pottery was once considered to be the vessels of kings. From the Byzantine emperors to the Russian czars, Sgraffito has been the earthenware for the "blue-bloods" of Europe's finest houses. Sgraffito Pottery is defined by the intricate designs that have been actually scratched into the surface of the clay before firing.
Byzantine ceramic ware with sgraffato decoration
Production place : Paphos, Cyprus
Discovery place : Cyprus
Date / period : Early thirteenth century

4. Byzantine
The eastern part of the later Roman Empire, dating from A.D. 330 when Constantine I rebuilt Byzantium and made it his capital. Its extent varied greatly over the centuries, but its core remained the Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor. The empire collapsed when Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

5. This type of earthenware can be traced all the way back to the Sung Dynasty of China. There is a vase called the "T'zu-Chou vase that dates to the 11th to 12th century AD.
That said Sgraffito can be found in many of the world's ancient cultures. It became quite popular among the many courts of Renaissance Italy.
T''zu-Chou vase, Chinese, Sung Dynasty (11th-12th century AD) sgraffito carved through a white slip to a stoneware body

6. Derived from the Italian word graffito, a drawing or inscription made on a wall or other surface (graffito also gave us the word graffiti). Graffito is past participle of sgraffire, which means “to scratch.” So the word sgraffito basically means to scratch and create a graphic or an image. In ceramics, sgraffito is a technique of ornamentation in which a surface layer is incised to reveal a ground of contrasting color.

7. Process:
A technique of ceramic decoration that involves painting a coat of a colored slip onto a leatherhard pot, and then carving through the slip to reveal the clay color below. All that is necessary is that you choose a slip color that is distinctively different enough in color from the clay body that the contrast will be visible when the pot is glazed and fired.
Video

8. Kathy King Lives in Boston Narratives from a feminist point of view
Uses her own personal experience in relation to social culture

9. Artist Statement
I am interested in mapping the ways that popular culture – including comic books, magazines, television shows, films, and a host of other forms help to shape and change how our culture views women. Popular culture does not simply reflect women’s lives; it helps to create them and so demands critical scrutiny. My ultimate objective is to translate my own personal experience in relation to my culture, through narrative imagery on the utilitarian ceramic form.

10. Kathy King
You Are Sooo Transgendered, 2008
Carved Porcelain, Glaze, China Paint
You Are Sooo BiSexual, 2008
Carved Porcelain, Glaze, China Paint

11. Kathy King
In my work I use ceramic vessels, tiled furniture and printmaking, either separately or combined in installations, which present narratives from a woman’s point of view. My ultimate objective is to translate my own personal experience in relation to my culture, through narrative imagery on the utilitarian ceramic form. This presentation of personal narrative on ceramics through satirical humor, irony and sarcasm allows me to both celebrate and poke fun at my gender as well as myself.
All work is made with mid-range porcelain, that is then covered with a black clay slip and carved using a technique called sgraffito.   The work is then fired twice with translucent glazes and often times go through additional firings for use of decals or china paint. All work is food safe as well as dishwasher and microwave safe unless noted.
Love Me? Plate
Carved Porcelain, Glaze

12. Jennifer Falter
Artist Website

13. Jennifer Falter

14. Mr. Sgraffito
Website

15. Chris Theiss
"It Is What It Is", 2005, 11"x 5"x 6", whiteware, vitreous slip
"What's The Matta Clark?", 2007, 11"x 9"x 6.5", whiteware, vitreous slip
Artwork

16. Tim Christensen

17. Lives in Maine
Will work on his pieces while on an island near his home
“My work is narrative, specifically illustrated, sometimes spiritual, often funny, and understandable. I make pots about the times in which we live, and the challenges of living in a time in which we are divorced from the natural world around us.”

19. Instructions
Step by Step Instructions
Sgraffito Tips

20. Resources
other techniques
Article on Sgraffito
Tutorial