Pottery Decoration

by Thomas Shafer

Paperback: 160 pages
Publisher: Gentle Breeze Publishing (2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1-889250-23-6
Dimensions: 11.0" x 8.5" x 0.45"
Shipping Weight: 0.91 lbs.

Although sometimes thought of as an unnecessary or superfluous added element, decoration can form an integral part of a pot, equal in importance to the form itself in the total aesthetic statement.

An essential quality of successful decoration is appropriateness, a special affinity for the form which it enriches. Good decoration need not be subordinate to the form but should enhance it. This may be accomplished in many ways ranging from subtle echoing of the form to bold contrast with it. Unusual, audacious, even incongruous decoration can be exciting when it is done with the assurance and authority which gives it a feeling of rightness, however unexpected.

A form which has little excitement unadorned may become memorable through inspired decoration; but it is equally possible to ruin the most vibrant, powerful form through insensitive decoration. Decoration may be conceived as an integral part of the form before it is even made, or the same form may be decorated in a hundred different equally valid ways. Most producing potters make pots in groups or series, and many almost identical pieces are given individuality through variations in decoration.

This book deals with the immense variety of materials and techniques which may be employed for the enrichment of clay and glaze surfaces, including decoration in the forming process, carved, impressed, and added decoration, and various methods of using slips, underglaze and overglaze colors, and lusters. The illustrations show tools and processes, as well as pots in museum collections and work by contemporary potters, selected to show various ways in which the techniques discussed have been used.