How to Make Super Sharp DIY Sgraffito Tools Make your own sgraffito tools with cheap and readily available materials! Nancy Gallagher

Clay is rough on tools, especially trimming and sgraffito tools. Fortunately, some of the most used tools in the box are quick and easy to assemble right in your own studio.

In this quick tip, an excerpt from the Ceramics Monthly archive, Nancy Gallagher explains how you can make your own sgraffito tools with cheap and easy-to-find materials! - Jennifer Poellot Harnetty, editor

Making Super Sharp DIY Sgraffito Tools

Like many ceramic artists, I enjoy trying new tools. I do, however, get weary of buying replacements. Not long ago, a classmate asked me to pick up some clay carving tools for her while I was at the store, as hers had become dull. As I was not familiar with the type of tool, I took one with me as an example. “Hmm,” I thought, as I rolled it over in my hand, “not much to it but a blunt stick and a bit of wire.” After finding them at my local clay store, and seeing the price, I set out to make my own. Start by gathering dowels, pencils, or brushes that can be used for tool handles and taper the ends with a pencil sharpener just a bit so the edges don’t cut into your clay surface while you’re working. Drill a 1⁄16th-inch hole into the tapered end.

Smaller Sgraffito Tools

Both utility staples as well as office staples make excellent carving loops. A straightened utility staple makes a great traditional needle-type stylus for sgraffito, which creates nicely tapered lines when the chiseled edge is held at an angle. An office staple is easy to bend into a small clay loop tool. Using a pair of needle-nose pliers, bend the staples to shapes that will work best for your sgraffito work. 

Put a small dab of Gorilla Glue in each drilled hole, then insert the wire shape into the hole. Note that Gorilla Glue expands while it dries. Dry the tool in an upright position for 12 hours. I use a small block of clay to support my sgraffito tools while they dry.

Larger Sgraffito Tools

For creating thicker lines or carving away larger areas of clay, I like to use clay loop tools made with spring steel from a measuring tape. Cheap measuring tapes from a dollar store work fine for this process and one tape will make hundreds of sgraffito tools!

Unscrew the back of the tape with a Phillips-head screwdriver. Remove the inside tape—remove it slowly as it is under pressure and the steel edges are sharp. The tape is easily cut into thin 1-inch strips at varying widths with a household scissors.

Cut a ¼-inch-deep slit into the end of your dowel. Loop your strip of steel tape so the ends meet, dip the ends in Gorilla Glue, and place them into the slotted end of your dowel. Let the tool dry upright for 12 hours. For my needs, both the smaller and larger sgraffito tools work best with leather-hard clay.

To learn more about Nancy Gallagher or see more images of her work, please visit http://gallagherpottery.com/.

**First published in 2013.