The prickly Scottish thistle. A fine prickly challenge… and pleased with the results too. Part of a commissioned body of work, a pair of personalised thistle bowls emerged from the kiln a couple of days back. This was their process: A starting sketch, mainly just out of my imagination after scanning through some photos and vintage wallpaper designs. I find it’s better to draw without pictures for direct reference – a more personal interpretation can be more satisfying. After all, it’s what is signified in my mind that matters as I am aiming for decoration and essence rather than photorealism.

The idea is then sketched straight onto the slip painted earthenware, using a build up of coloured underglaze layers…

…and then the image is defined by picking out sharply contrasting sgraffito lines, below.

The finished items, you can see the personalisation in the final picture – this was part of a commission for a family of bowls. A lot of good fun work.