Yesterday, we had the opportunity to have an afternoon's ceramics masterclass with artist Ester Svennson (http://blog.estersvensson.com/). - I jumped at the chance, and it turned out to be so fitting with the project I'm on with at the moment.

Svennson started out studying Illustration, then 'got restless' and moved her illustrative work into Ceramics, and is now studying a Masters degree in Ceramics at the Royal College of Art in London.

The techniques Svennson taught us, were perfect for my project - So I decided to use my time in the masterclass to apply them to one of the heads I made of my dad. Over the last two weeks, I had had the head slowly drying (to avoid it warping), so it was at a perfect stage to apply slips to.

We were shown how we could layer slips and sgraffito (scratch) into it to take away the slip and reveal the different coloured slip underneath/ the clay. We were also taught how to monoprint using slip.

- White slip applied with thick brush, then scratched into using pencil and a pointy metal tool.

- Added blue slip using fingers, then touches of black onto the hair.

- Then monoprinted with the black slip over the face and neck.

- Then added additional black slip with fingers again to highlight the more shaded areas on the face - such as under the chin and around the ear.

I am curious to see how it turns out - when fired the colours will be much clearer/ vibrant (it is impossible to see where the blue areas are at the moment) and I think that the orange from the clay will warm the piece up.