A Whimsical Clay Plaque for a Dear Friend

My most recent project came as a request from a dear friend: a whimsical clay plaque with one of her most cherished quotes from one of her most treasured children’s book Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney illustrated by Anita Jeram .

I took special care in creating a design by playing around with different fonts and stamps. I initially used a starburst stamp but I didn’t like it for this particular piece.

IMG_8176 i — My first draft in wet stoneware clay with starbursts.

Not having any luck finding star stamps, our daughter created a set of three star stamps for me. Perfect!

Just in case one plaque didn’t come out, I made several!

IMG_8317 i — Air dried stoneware clay (greenware) ready for the first firing.

IMG_8812 i — After the first firing (bisque firing), I used an iron oxide wash to darken and accentuate details on each plaque. The final firing next.

The final firing was a success. All eight plaques turned out nicely. I played around with different kinds of wire and found I liked the look of a dark annealed steel wire best.