Leaf dish - Handmade - Cracked green glaze • Lagoon Lagoon Collection

Modern and trendy, this decorative tray has a leaf-shaped cut-out drawn fully. Entirely crafted in the Elephantom.Design ceramic workshop, this decorative freehanded object, created from a clay extracted in Belgium, is decorated with a green, cracked glaze which makes it so unique and gives it all its originality. The Lagoon ceramic collection will nicely decorate your table! It is a unique piece.

• Elephantom.Design stoneware ceramics are shaped and glazed by hand •

The choice of clay and shaping techniques

In the Elephantom.Design pottery workshop, besides throwing the clay, I also like to work with other techniques. This allows me to widen the range of shapes created.

This astonishing leaf-shaped dish is hand-made from a cream-colored Belgian clay. I like the idea of working a locally-extracted clay. Shaping it by hand and cutting it with a potter's knife resulted in this graphic Monstera leaf shape.

The shaping of the pieces is achieved more quickly with this technique than if they were shaped on the potter's wheel. However, in order to make cut-out pieces such as this one, additional meticulous steps are required. Two different ways of working the clay, each with its advantages and disadvantages, and each resulting in very distinctive styles.

The shaping of stoneware leaf-shaped dishes

The first step of the slab shaping process is the slab laying. I flatten the clay and spread it using a large roller that saves me from the tedious task of spreading the slabs by hand. In order to reduce deformation of ceramics in the kiln, the clay slab is stretched out in successive stages.

The obtained clay plate is then shaped. The leaf-shaped design is traced freehand on the clay, so that no two identical plates are ever obtained. The edges are then trimmed. Once the clay has harderred, I work it again with a sponge in order to obtain a soft and harmonious shape. The object is then ready for its first meeting with the kiln.

The creation of the cracked enamel and its application on ceramics

Once it comes out of the kiln, the future tray is cleaned. The green colored glaze is prepared by myself and applied to the tray. The glazing technique I use differs depending on the type of glaze and the type of object. As a general rule, I like to glaze with a spray gun but in this particular case, the shape of the stoneware tray and the specificities of the glaze required the use of the dipping technique. The item is dipped in the glaze bath, cleaned and baked a second time. This second firing at high temperature allows the piece to vitrify. The specific cracks of this glaze randomly appear as the piece cools down. Now you understand why each item is unique.

All the ceramic creations proposed to you on the Elephantom.Design online store are entirely and totally designed and crafted by myself, in my pottery workshop in Belgium. Thank you for supporting handmade art. If you avoid unwarranted knocks, your handmade ceramics will last you many years.

• Delivery of Elephantom.Design ceramics •

Elephantom.Design ceramics are always delivered with great care. The handmade creations you buy are, carefully protected in recyclable materials and packed in beautiful gift boxes with the brands logo. Under no circumstances will you find bubble wrap or other plastics in the packagesent to you. Respect for the nature that surrounds us is central to the workshop's philosophy.