Mishima Decorated Platter

 One of my favorite pieces I pulled out of the kiln this weekend. The platter itself is made of low-fire white earthenware clay.
Once the platter was thrown and trimmed I used a can opener tip to impress the triangular points into the rim. Old timers call the can opener a "church key." The straight lines on the outer edge of the platter was made using a flat head screwdriver.
Very time consuming but the end result is a beautiful design and pattern. Once the platter was bisque fired I had no idea how I was going to glaze it. Somehow for some unknown reason, Mishima popped into my head.
Mishima is actually a Japanese island that produces a type of pottery surface design /drawing by inlaying a slip of contrasting color into lines incised in leather-hard clay.
In the case of my platter I applied three coats of Amaco Teal Blue Velvet underglaze to the entire platter, front and back. Once that had dried I used sand paper to remove the underglaze from the rim of the platter. The sanding removed the underglaze on the high parts of the rim and left the underglaze untouched the the recessed indentations made by the can opener and flat head screwdriver.
When the sanding was completed I applied three coats of Duncan Super Clear over that and fired the platter to cone 04.