The piece 'After The Battle' deals in a symbolic way with a horrific consequences of the 1st World War. It shows the ground of an unknown battlefield somewhere in Europe, with footprints of army boots and horseshoes as remains of the recent conflict.
First I made a print, trying to determine which colours would work the best with this project:
This the actual boot and the horseshoe used for the print and also for the actual ceramic work:
The following pictures show the steps I took to create the artwork:
The piece was made of light grey stoneware and is in a shape of large platter. As a mould for the base I used a platter that I have at home. I mixed the clay with sand and filled the platter unevenly. Then I used the boots and horseshoe to create the prints. Then the piece went into bisque firing. To accent the depth and shadows of the prints after the first firing I used underglaze paint, which was partially washed off to give the piece the dirty, messy look. To finish the work I used thick layer of glaze to demonstrate the icy look of a frozen ground. I also used decorative dark red glass beads which melted when fired at 1000 ºC and created a convincing effect of running fresh blood.
The pictures below show the finished piece:
Detail of 'ice' and 'frozen blood'...
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