Red-Figure Scratch Art
Met Museum Photo
In Ancient Greek red-figure pottery, the background (negative space) was painted black, and the figures were left the color of the clay. Sometimes the black paint was incised or carved away to create fine details.
Red Figure Scratch Art Instructions
SUPPLIES:
Card paper
Pencil
Orange crayon
Black paint
Dish soap
Mixing bowl
Paint brush
Scraping tool or wooden stick
WHAT TO DO:
Draw the outline of a vase on a half-page of white card paper.
Color in the shape with orange crayon. Make sure you cover all the white spaces in the vase outline.
Mix one part black paint with one part dish soap.
Paint the dish soap mixture over the vase shape, covering all the orange crayon.
Let the paint dry completely.
On a separate piece of paper, sketch out some pottery design ideas based on ancient Greek red-figure pottery.
Draw your design on the vase by using a scraping tool or wooden stick to gently scrape away the paint layer to reveal the orange layer beneath.
A printable handout for this activity is included in our Ancient Greek Art resource.
