Facts about Clayboard

Facts about Clay Artboard (Clayboard) The origins of modern clayboard, sometimes called scratchboard, date back to the 19th century. Over the years it became a very popular medium for medical, scientific and product illustration due to it’s ability to capture fine detail. If you were to take a cross section of a piece of clayboard, you would see that it’s made up of three layers. The bottom layer is typically a heavy paper, cardboard or hardboard base. Over top of this is a layer of fine white China clay. The top layer consists of a thin coating of black India ink. Using a sharp stylus, a traditional artist would scratch away the black ink layer, revealing the stark white clay layer beneath it. We’ve perfected a technique whereby, using our laser system, we are able to etch any type of image onto clayboard with stunning results. Our laser’s ability to control the depth of the cut into the black ink layer creates amazing black and white images with incredible tonal range, from true black to pure white. These portraits appear nearly three dimensional and seem to jump off the page. The result is a museum quality work of art. Currently we use classic black clayboard, but we’ve recently added gold foil board to our selection. We’ll be adding more colors in the near future.

Clayboard Puppy - Production Size 5x7 Gold Foil King Tut - Production Size 5x7 Clayboard Elk - Production Size 5x7 If you’re interested in more of our clayboard artwork, please visit our gallery on Yessy.com.

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