If you don’t mind me asking, what tools do you use for your sgraffito work? Thanks!
sure! I’ve posted about my tools before so I’ll get a little more in-depth with my answer this time. also I’m not sponsored or anything, these are just what I’ve tried and my experiences with them
this one’s my favourite, kemper’s wire stylus. it’s very fine and it draws the clay away from the surface of the piece like a ribbon tool (unlike a needle tool, which is very fine but kind of a pain to use just because it leaves behind crumbs and burs) the stylus is a little fragile compared to some tools, it’s a trade off for the fine lines, so you’ll have to replace it a couple times a year if you carve an insane amount of pottery like me lol. and you can’t use it on dry or hard clay, the wire will break. but they’re like $8 so, not hard to replace
next are xiem’s ribbon tools. this set is super useful and offers some good variety in line thickness and such. and the coloured handles make it easy for me to find the one I want. I especially like the pink triangular one because I can use it for medium-fine lines as well as carving out large smooth sections with very few tool marks
xiem’s other carving tools are alright too. definitely lower on my list of favourites though. I use the smaller ball-ended ones sometimes for lettering and other curved lines. some are of these will gouge a little too deep so take care if you’re trying them out
diamondcore’s tools are very, very expensive, and I personally find them hard to control, both for detailed work and just depth-wise. I once carved completely through a plate with one which was a bummer lol. they are great for really deep texture though, like these coasters, if you’re careful not to go any deeper
and a friend gave me some of these. they’re dental tools! (and I threw in a picture of a needle tool too) they’re super fine, but like a needle tool, you’ll need to sweep away a lot of crumbs. I’ve cut my fingers on these and do not use them regularly or store them with my other tools. be careful of the angle you hold these ones at. I find a 70-80 degree angle to the surface of the piece to draw with any kind of needle tool works best, so the tip won’t get caught or obscure your lines, but this is getting really technical lol. honestly needle tools are better for mishima than sgraffito imo
here’s the mishima technique, since I don’t post it often. it’s a good way to get super fine linework, and is a great technique to combine with underglaze painting