In this important series, Melchert produced a large body of work that uses only blue bands of glaze to trace the path of the tile’s crack. The bands of glaze highlight the fractured areas and, thus, the inner structure of the tiles. Melchert’s rule for this series amounted to painting a blue line of glaze along the broken edge of the shard, repeating the undulation of the line until coming to the shard’s opposite edge. The resulting compositions often suggest a flowing fabric or an undulating topography.

These works reveal an energy and spontaneity that Melchert suggests, is due to the process of discovery. “That body of work started by repeating the shape of an edge with alternating stripes across a field, often having them fan out from a corner. I valued the simplicity of the process and the materials. What’s also amazing is how much can be done with the simple shapes of shards. This series was done with porcelain 18-inch squares from Italy and a navy blue glaze. I’d lay a shard on a sheet of paper and trace its shape. I’d make a template with the paper and draw lines a half inch apart in a fan shape, alternating stripes of glaze with the light gray of the clay. Pieced together like open fans, the shards made exciting partners. Some, such as Seven Minutes, were completed as an independent tile. Most were done by juxtaposing two. Having spent time with them, I named them after places I’d visited, such as Singapore, Lisbon, Delhi, and North Atlantic.”