This month I will show you an array of tiles I made, at my studio clay class or at home, using the stencil method of applying images. For a full explanation of this method and some tiles I made in the fall of 2019, look here.

Short update on stenciling process, any medium – all you do is cut out a pattern, set it on your background, and paint, glaze, spray paint, crayon, whatever you want, over or around or inside it. Then lift it from the background, and you have a clear area the stencil covered and a colored area surrounding it.

You can use a stencil in a couple of ways. One – cut out the figure (let’s say it is a circle), set it down on white paper, color around it, lift it, and you have a colored area surrounding a white circle.

Two, you can cut a circle, remove it, and use the open space as your stencil – set it on the white paper, color it, and you have a white background with a colored circle.

Stencil lesson over! Here are some tiles I made in my studio clay class back in fall 2019 – the first group I will be showing you. I colored the figures using underglazes. The tiles were bisque fired and I then covered some areas with wax to form a resist, dipped the tiles in clear glaze. The resist areas stayed matte, the glazed ones shined up.

They were fired to Cone 6 – at the studio we use stoneware clay, which fires higher than I use at home – with Standard clay #112. Approximately 7″ x 7″.