Pottery Time: Fish Platter

This is a handmade present that I gave my husband for Christmas. He is a bit of a hobby fisherman (or tries to be) and I thought this would be appreciated. I was thinking he might be able to use it to serve fried fish on. As I type this he just sent me a text telling me he caught some fish while ice fishing and we'll be eating some fried fish tonight.

Anyways, on to how I made this -- I slab rolled out my clay and then cut out my shape by drawing a picture first on newspaper and then cutting it out of the newspaper and then cutting it out from the clay. Next I got to work adding texture to the fins and scales. The scales I made by imprinting a seashell in it. The texture in the fins was made by running a pic comb over it.

Next I used my hands to create the curved shape so that it resembles more of a shallow bowl platter.
I had painted underglaze on the entire thing before the first firing, then poured clear glaze over the piece before the final firing.