- 1). Draw your design on the terra cotta with a sharp pencil. This gives you an outline of what you want to carve. The use of a pencil allows you to erase lines you are not happy with. Continue to draw on the pot until you are happy with the result.
- 2). Trace around the pencil lines with a rotary tool equipped with a masonry tip or a diamond tip.
- 3). Cut into the terra cotta inside the lines you scribed with the rotary tool If you want to etch the design into the clay surface. This will make the design sit below the original surface of the terra cotta. Cut away the terra cotta on the outside of the lines If you want to create a bas relief. This will allow your design to protrude from the surface of the terra cotta, because you trim all of the material around your design. Avoid cutting any deeper than 25 percent of the terra cotta's thickness to avoid damaging the structural integrity of the terra cotta pot.
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