Erin Kettenburg Redware

These pieces are being created in true historical tradition and are entirely hand-made. Each plate is formed of red clay which is rolled by hand to appropriate thickness (no rolling mill is utilized) and shaped upon various hump or ‘drape’ molds. A base coating of lightly-colored slip is then applied and decorative elements are subsequently cut through the slip in the old Pennsylvania German sgraffito tradition. Selected coloring agents are used and finally a clear overglaze is applied and fired which yields a very subtle, attractive ‘crazed’ surface. The backs are signed and unglazed. A wide variety of pieces are available ranging from the basic copper-green highlights to more elaborate multi-colored designs incorporating manganese and iron oxide. Erin is working in a primitive folk-art style and each is entirely unique: due to the entirely hand-made nature of these plates, no two will ever be identical! As with true 18th and early 19th century work, the hand of the potter is quite evident in each.

Some of the plates have been lightly ‘antiqued’ by means of a subtle dye which highlights the crazed glaze surface. Others may be aged to a greater degree and still others are left ‘as-new’. E.K.