Monoprinted Nostalgia Alexandra Nikolakopoulou

Appears in the Mar/Apr 2024 issue of Pottery Making Illustrated.

I am still not sure what to blame for my entanglement with clay. I suspect, however, that choosing to make dinnerware, for me, has its roots in the fundamental concept of the Mediterranean approach to eating. Shared experiences, such as eating a meal together, help people bridge the gap between different backgrounds and cultures—finding common ground and instigating new traditions. 

My series LES IMPRIMÉS is inspired by the cheap, often slightly misprinted cotton fabrics my grandmother’s housedresses were made from. It is a homage to dear childhood memories of idle summer afternoons in Thessaloniki, Greece, my hometown. Nostalgia expressed in soothingly familiar colors and patterns: stirring shadows behind shutters; warm, dry air in my nostrils; the taste of the watermelon; a last glimpse of my grandmother’s skirt disappearing at the doorway as I fall asleep. 

As an almost self-taught potter, I constantly strive to fill the gap of lacking an academic education in ceramics with any learning material I can lay my hands on. Working in a tiny studio and in small batches, my goal has been to find a flexible and cost-efficient technique. I like to be able to change the design of my patterns often. Two full years of researching and testing led me to the process I am currently using: monoprinting using laser-printed patterns that I color with terra sigillata and press onto slabs covered with slip. There is a long list of potters I came across through my ICAN subscription that influenced my work. 

It All Starts With a Slab 

My dinnerware is handbuilt using clay slabs that I form over MDF drape molds. When I first came up with the concept for my dinnerware, there were no molds with the desired shape commercially available. The organic asymmetrical forms I had in mind simply did not exist at that point. So, I designed a variety of shapes, and my husband made them for me. This little project eventually evolved into bART pottery forms, a small side business creating unique pottery molds. I like combining these molds to create unique dinnerware sets. 

Begin by rolling a slab. Depending on the size of the piece I am constructing, I roll the slabs to a thickness of about ¼–⅛ inch (7–9 mm). I use a red stoneware containing 25% chamotte (0.5 mm) (a form of grog), with a wide firing range. Run a medium-sized, soft plastic rib over the surface on both sides of the slab to compress the clay particles and remove any remaining texture. Store the slabs in a damp box, or between plastic, until you need to use them, then let them firm up to soft leather hard on drywall or cement boards. 

Monoprinting Technique 

Using computer design programs, such as Illustrator and Photoshop, I create high-contrast black-and-white patterns. I then have them printed with a black-and-white laser printer in an A3 format (1). This size is big enough for most of my pieces. Caution: Prints made using inkjet printers will not work with this technique. Keep in mind that the pattern will be transferred in reverse. Tip: This is important for letters, as they need to be printed backward. 

Brush the white areas of the prints with colored terra sigillata (recipes above). The black areas with toner will resist the terra sigillata, making coloring extremely easy (2). Let the colored papers dry flat and avoid bending them or moving them too much at this stage, as the dried terra sigillata tends to flake off the paper. 

Next, apply slip (recipe above) on the clay slab using a soft brush (3). The slip should have the consistency of a rather runny custard. This will be the background of the transferred pattern. Brush one layer of slip, let it become leather hard (dry to a satin sheen), then brush a second layer. As soon as the second layer is leather hard, spray the back of the laser print with water through a misting spray bottle to rehydrate it until it is evenly slightly damp and lay it face down on the slab with a decisive move to avoid wrinkles or large air pockets. Once the print has touched the slab it cannot be moved or readjusted. 

Roll over the paper with a pony roller without applying too much pressure (4). Then, use the soft rib to burnish until the print looks evenly saturated with water from the slip and a trace of the pattern can be seen. Pull up a corner of the paper to check how the pattern is adhering. If terra sigillata remains on the paper, lay it back down and continue pressing with the roller and the rib. You might need to add a little bit of water by dabbing the paper with a well-squeezed sponge. Adding too much water when you rehydrate the print can cause the slip to detach from the slab creating blisters on your surface. Finally, peel the print from the clay slab (5). 

Using large-sized prints means that when I finish coloring them, the parts I colored first are already dry while the last are still wet. To have them at an even state, let them dry completely and then rehydrate them. The idea is for both the slip and the print to be at a leather-hard stage when they are joined. 

Press Molding the Plates 

Begin forming the plates by putting an MDF mold on the decorated side of the slab and roughly cutting the shape around it, estimating how much of the slab you will need to cover the mold (6). Place a drywall board on top of the mold to form a sandwich, then turn it over. 

The clay slab is now draped over the mold. Spinning it slowly on a banding wheel, use the pony roller, your hands, and ribs to ease the clay around the mold (7, 8). Taking your time and not applying too much pressure is essential, especially with deeper molds. When the slab is nicely wrapped around the mold, remove the excess clay with a cheese cutter (9) and allow the piece to become hard leather hard on a drywall board while the mold is still in place. 

Next, place the covered mold on the banding wheel and use a Surform rasp to make the exterior of the lip thinner (10), then press and refine it using medium-soft and soft ribs. At this point, stamp and decorate the bottom of the piece. I use a pastry roller to draw organic lines and add visual interest (11). 

The piece can now hold its shape, so once again, turn it onto a drywall board and separate the mold and the plate (12). Level and smooth the lip with a rasp and a rib as necessary. 

Place a sandbag in the dish to keep it weighted down and prevent it from warping, then allow the dish to dry on the drywall board covered loosely with plastic. When the piece is completely dry, brush two layers of red terra sigillata on the exterior and let dry again. After the terra sigillata is dry, you can bisque fire the pot. I bisque fire to cone 04. 

Final Touches 

Once the piece comes out of the bisque kiln, rinse it with a sponge and water to remove any dust. After it dries, I brush a wash of dark brown underglaze diluted with water over my signature on the bottom and wipe off the excess with a sponge. Finally, I use a commercial clear glaze over the entire interior surface and glaze fire to cone 05. I love the contrast of the glossy glazed interior with the terra sigillata waxy exterior. 

Alexandra Nikolakopoulou is a studio potter of Greek origin, living and working in Hoorn, The Netherlands. She makes functional and decorative handbuilt pottery, teaches workshops, and designs drape pottery molds for bART pottery forms. To see more of her work, visit www.daydreamceramics.art and follow her on Instagram @daydream_ceramics.