Decoration

Decoration is one of those things i've struggled with for quite some time. It's a difficult thing to get right, but it's fundamental to the success of your pots!!

Originally I thought colour might be the answer, whack a bit of a colour on, and it's decorated. For me this didn't work. Aesthetically I like things to be simple. Colour just made everything look busy and ugly. And it was difficult to see how the colour actually related to the pot. It always seemed like a very poor after thought.

The problem was that throwing, for me, is about the form, so I had to find something that complements the form rather than detracts from it.

For some time I've been using a small japanese stamp to "sign" the bottom of my pots.


It's simple and effective, and it got me to thinking, what about stamps...

So dad whipped up these wooden stamps for me and our I got out one of my lino cutting tools to give them a bit of a pattern. This worked.

Now I've evolved the idea a little more and made a collection of clay stamps (fired) that are considerably smaller, but still have a nice level of detail.

These give me a nice range of interesting indentations that I can use to give a little bit of interest, but without overwhelming the aesthetic of the pot. After all throwing is all about the form, making forms that are nice to hold and easy to use.