Carving little dishes

 I was working towards making a tea set in a Moroccan style with little lemon dishes and a dish for a sugar cone.

The design I wanted to use was the one from the Ben Yusuf Madrasa  (A place of study) in Marrakesh.

I followed the instructions from Eric Broug’s book on Islamic Geometric Patterns and drew the design using a pair of compasses and a ruler.

I had previously made the little bowls and they had been dried to a leather hard state (not fired) and then coated with three coats of yellow coloured slip. 

(The colour comes out when the firing process is finished.)

I printed out the pattern in various different sizes and placed it into the prepared dish.  I then pin pricked the lines.

I then went in with my new Xiem carving tools and followed the lines to carve out the pattern.

It took a while, but it is quite a mindful and therapeutic process… so you get lost in it a little.

Using different parts of the design I made each one a little different.

Can’t wait to see these once they’ve been fired and glazed and refired.