The Process

Andrew has drawn and painted the Royal coat of Arms of the UK many times over the years , but for this project he began afresh, to inject a new perspective into the familiar heraldic design.

The Coronation of King Charles III is by any measure an important moment in the history of the United Kingdom.

For centuries, potters have traditionally made commemorative pieces to mark events such as this, often using the technique known as sgraffito.

Sgraffito is the process of scratching through a surface layer of a light coloured slip, to expose the darker clay beneath, forming a sort of incised line drawing. If any mistakes are made it is virtually impossible to fix, so careful planning and intense concentration are necessary on a design as complex as this, to get it right first time.

The preliminary sketches were weeks in the researching and drawing, with every aspect being reimagined in a circular format for this particular purpose.

The final design when scaled to the right size was traced down onto the slip surface when it was still a little soft.

Andrew then scratched the design into the soft slip, using sharp metal tools. The process took hours and hours of focussed work.