The process
First...
I build the pot, slip-painting the inside as I go. This might include painting or sgraffito drawn images inside or it might just be colour. Once the pot is built, I paint the outside.
It dries and is then fired – the first firing is known as the ‘bisque.’
Second...
Stage two is smashing the pot. Once it is bisque fired, it is strong enough to travel to wherever the event is planned. The image here shows Hossein smashing the pot that represented his hopes when he first came to Britain. Like everyone else, his somewhat idealistic plans had to be adjusted to meet reality and this was a ceremonial smashing of his first set of dreams and the remaining part of the process involves carefully retrieving all the pieces and ‘rebuilding the dream,’ which is now the title of the pot.
Third...
The shards are now collected up and taken back to the studio for glazing. This is one of the most laborious parts of the process. ‘Rebuilding the Dream,’ had some images sgraffito drawn inside but I added to them by painting, this time with a brush and underglaze colours.
Once that is done, every shard has to be glazed and its edges cleaned so that when I come to rebuild the pot, after the glaze firing, they will all fit together.
Finally...
The rebuilding starts. I leave some shards out so the internal images are visible through the gaps. The final part of the process is adding gold leaf to edges of the shards so they, in effect, frame the internal images.