the julian sauce

sgraffito is a really fun art form and where it has some of the aesthetic appeal of something like linoprinting i think i like it more for a few reasons
first being simply the material you work with, clay is so much more satisfying to cut and scrape away from than linoleum imo lino can get kinda frustrating to cut
i find a lot of joy in working with clay at different stages in its life cycle and the leather hard stage being the one to do the sgraffito in i think teaches me a lot more about the material and its potentials than if i just constructed the piece, let it dry completely, fire, and dip glaze
i like that the marks you make makes the finished piece itself instead of being stamped onto paper or other medium as the finished piece (bonus for not having to work in the inverse bc it’s not a stamp)
the texture and tactile quality of handling a sgraffito’d piece of pottery is a really cool part of the experience so it’s not something you just enjoy with your eyes but also your hands especially if it’s a utility piece of ceramics so meant to be touched more
the exposed clay being part of the composition is really cool to me bc it’s often covered by glazes. clays come in so many colors and shades from all over the world i think it’s neat to be able to highlight exactly what the material is while also being super decorative/illustrative
often a monochromatic medium (but doesn’t need to be) and i enjoy how that simplicity allows the mark making to do a lot more of the expressive work