Daisy, Daisy
2024
The piece
A full view, and the story behind it
This was the first of the Daisy Bell jugs. The song had been in the workshop for months — my father used to whistle it. I'd wanted to make a piece for him for a long time and this is the one that came.
The lettering took longer than the rest of the carving combined. I draft it onto the leather-hard slip in pencil first, then cut it out one letter at a time. There's no second chance with sgraffito — what you cut is what you keep.
Stage 01
Throwing
the form on the wheel
The piece begins on the kick wheel from a single ball of red earthenware. The body is closed at the shoulder and trimmed the next day once the clay is leather-hard, with the handle pulled separately and joined while both are at the same dryness.
Stage 02
Slipping
the white ground laid over the red body
Two or three thin coats of white slip are brushed over the leather-hard body. There is a window of about half a day in which the surface is firm enough to take a clean line but still soft enough to cut.
Stage 03
Scratching
drawing the figures through the slip
With a fine pin tool the foliage, flowers and figures are scratched back through the slip to expose the red clay beneath. This is the slow part — six to nine days at the bench for a piece of this size. Once a line is cut it stays cut.
Stage 04
Wording
the inscription, cut by hand
The lettering is drafted onto the slip in pencil and then cut out one letter at a time. The inscription on this piece reads — "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do".
"Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do"
Stage 05
Glazing
two firings, and a thin clear inside
After a slow week under newspaper the piece is bisque-fired at around 1000°C. The outside is left unglazed — the contrast of red against white carries the work and a glaze tends to muddy it. A thin lead-free clear is brushed inside, and the second firing is at around 1100°C.
Stage 06
Final reveal
the finished piece
What comes out of the second firing is the piece as it will stay. Held in the hand for the first time, the slip has hardened into the body and the cut lines have darkened a shade. From clay to kiln, most pieces take between three and six weeks.
Stage 07
Specifications
the bare facts of the piece
- Materials
- Red earthenware, white slip
- Dimensions
- 46 × 28 cm
- Year
- 2024
- Status
- Bespoke Order
- Inscribed
- Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do