Bradley Spencer’s artwork is made using various hand building techniques and a variety of clay bodies including paper clay and heavily grogged stoneware clays. All of his work is fired in an electric kiln and is mostly fired twice, once to biscuit temperature of 1000C, and secondly to glaze which can be up to 1265C. Some of the more complex sculptural pieces with their layered surface decoration require further firings.
Whilst some of the work is decorated with a brush, a variety of other approaches are also used to print onto and into the clay. Carved-wooden blocks, originally made for printing wax onto cloth (batik) and his own carved blocks are used to print into the clay surfaces. As well as screen printing imagery onto flat slabs of clay textiles, natural objects are also embossed to make prints in prepared clay.
