Grasshopper Plate

Out of Sunday's kiln, this plate, very much inspired by Lynda Barry's book What It Is.

The plate is handbuilt, not thrown, made from red clay (SB-Red). When it was still green, I painted it with underglazes, first the background, and over that the grasshopper and squirrel and alphabet. Then I bisque-fired it and glazed it. Mostly I used transparent glazes, but I also used some opaque glazes.

The grasshopper is drawn freehand, using a book of copyright-free illustrations as a reference. I  chose a grasshopper because I used to be fascinated by them as a child--and the first time I ever drew one was after I dissected on in a science class I took in high school.



The squirrel was also drawn freehand. I used a vintage embroidery pattern as a reference. I don't know why I chose it, except that I was tired of drawing kittens.