Cave art test tiles

Throwing...handbuilding. Glazing...surface design. So many techniques! It's overwhelming. And as a pottery student of just one year, I find myself wanting to try everything. But recently, while looking for some design ideas online, I stumbled across several sites devoted to petroglyphs and cave drawings. My childhood fascination with these ancent paintings returned full force and I decided to experiment with documented designs as well as some of my own. At this point, these small pieces are serving as simple test tiles. I'm playing around with various textures, various glazes, oxides, wax resist, oxidation vs reduction; whatever results in pieces of clay that resemble a miniature mural on rock. My first batch came out of the gas kiln last Thursday and I was pleased with this new direction.



The photos aren't very good, but I wanted to document a couple of my attempts here. Because these little guys are constantly on my mind these days. Already I'm visualizing different ways to incorporate them into future work. I'll keep throwing, and I'm enjoying my handbuilding class. But I think I'll be making a lot more of these. They fascinate me.