Carve and inlay a test tile
Mishima is sgraffito's precise cousin. Instead of scratching through a coating, you carve lines into bare clay and fill them with contrasting slip.
Steps
- Carve shallow lines into a leather-hard tile (geometric pattern or simple drawing)
- Apply contrasting slip over the entire surface, forcing it into the carved lines
- Wait until the surface firms slightly
- Scrape away excess slip with a metal rib or flexible scraper, revealing clean inlaid lines
The magic moment
When you scrape the surface clean and those crisp, filled lines emerge from the clay, that's when you understand why potters love this technique.
Key to success
- Carve deep enough that slip stays in the lines after scraping
- Scrape at the right moment: too wet = pulls slip out of lines; too dry = damages surface