Ceramic Design, Drawing and Product Development
Design decides whether a ceramic product sells; drawing and prototyping decide whether it can be made. The exam tests the design process, drawing conventions and shrinkage allowance in pattern making.
The process
- Brief and market research - who uses it, what it must hold, what it must cost.
- Concept sketches - many, cheap, fast.
- Orthographic and section drawings - plan, elevation, cross-section, to scale.
- Maquette and prototype - plaster, clay or card at 1:1.
- Testing - capacity, stability, stackability, dishwasher and microwave suitability, glaze fit.
- Costing and production plan - batch size, mould count, kiln space.
Design rules for ceramics
- Allow for shrinkage in every pattern and mould.
- Work to the process: no undercuts for slip casting, even wall thickness for drying, stable base width for stacking.
- Respect the kiln: a small kiln cannot take a 70 cm platter.
- Keep a range coherent: one family of forms, one glaze palette.
Worked example: master size
The specification is a fired plate of 20.0 cm diameter; total shrinkage is 12 %. Master diameter = 20.0 ÷ (1 − 0.12) = 22.7 cm. A 1:1 drawing is therefore made at 22.7 cm and the plaster master is turned to that size. Handing a 20 cm drawing to the mould maker produces a plate that fires to 20 × 0.88 = 17.6 cm - well outside specification.
Traps
- Drawing the finished size and forgetting shrinkage.
- Designing a sharp internal angle, which cracks in drying.
- Ignoring packability and shipping breakage in the cost.
- Choosing a glaze after the form is fixed rather than testing them together.