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Westcote Bell Pottery and Studios 3447 Hwy 331, PO Box 68, LaHave, Nova Scotia, |
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| If you have ever wondered how we can do what we do, this is the page for you. We use an age old technique that potters have used for hundreds of years. Potters would place leaves onto clay forms and paint liquid clay of a different color over the top of the leaves and clay form. When dry the leaves are lifted off revealing the leaf silhouette. A clear glaze is applied after the bisque firing. Obviously we have taken this simple idea a notch further. We use multiple layers of colored slips and mask out the desired areas with paper stencils. The layers of slip are applied in various ways including brushing, sponging, stamping and airbrushing. The paper stencils are applied over the colored slip before a new layer of slip is applied. This process can be repeated up to 4 times before the slip becomes too thick to find the paper stencils. Removing the paper stencils is tedious and has to be done with a sharp needle. The detail painting is done with underglazes, carved areas are created by sgraffito. |
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This slide show begins with applying paper masking stencils, followed by brush painting. Finally the image is revealed as the paper masking is removed. The last image shows all of the detail painting. The image left shows the wash basin after the glaze firing. |