Sgraffito decorations in ceramic art

As human beings started settled life, with the emergence of different needs earth was fired and turned into ceramics for the first time even though it was coincidental. Ever since the ceramics was found, the idea of decorating it has been too. Man who has been considered as the cleverest of all creatures on earth, has always been interested in beauty and struggled to beautify that he has. This is a need like eating and drinking for human beings and it involves aesthetic consideration. One of the ceramics decoration way is sgraffito. Sgraffito is the method of scratching the slip, stain, oxide or unfired glaze, bisque or glazed fired product until the body is seen and forms a contrast sight. Sgraffito and ceramics came together 3000's BC as a result of man's fond of beauty. Produced forms were decorated by using Sgraffito which has been considered as one of the easiest methods and gained an aesthetic value. Sgraffito, which virtually has the same history as ceramics and its history as a decorative element in ceramics art evaluated in this study. This study has four parts. In the first part sgraffito's definition and its historical development is examined. In the second part is production process is told and the tools and the ingredients are introduced. In the third part today's sgraffito is examined, artists and their works are introduced. In the fourth part sgraffito has been applied on ceramics surfaces as a decorative component and they have been explained.