November 3, 2008
Adding Depth to Your Ceramic Surfaces with Commercial Glazes, Part II
 Depth in a ceramic surface is achieved through both tactile and visual texture. |
Last week, we shared one way to use a mixture of commercial glazes and custom-mixed glazes to make interesting surfaces on your pottery. Today, we’ll share two more effects Lisa Bare Culp has come up with using pouring and layering to create visual texture. She also uses a tactile texture to add another layer of interest and complexity. Try these techniques with the same glazes she uses or with your own. Happy testing!—Sherman Hall, Ceramic Arts Daily |
| Pouring Squeeze a large amount of Stroke & Coat SC-73 Candy Apple Red across the interior of a bisque-fired bowl. | |
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Use a 2-inch brush to apply a thin coat of Mayco’s Elements Chunkies EL 203 Coal Dust (this is a low-fire effect glaze with crystals) over the Candy Apple Red. A nice feathered edge is created when the piece is dipped into a Cone 6 black glossy glaze as shown in the detail image. |
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Layering On a heavily textured, bisque-fired piece, apply a Cone 6 porcelain black slip as a stain, wiping off the high spots with a damp sponge (figure 1). Use a 2-inch brush to apply Stroke & Coat SC-71 Purple-Licious to the high spots with a dry brush technique (figure 2). Next, dry brush Mayco’s Stroke & Coat Red SC-74 Hot Tamale and SC-27 Sour Apple onto the interior (figure 3). Apply a thick coat of the red glaze in isolated areas to obtain a bright color (figure 4). Apply wax resist to the interior surface of the piece and allow to dry. Dip the entire piece in a Cone 6 blue glaze. You could expand these basic directions to include several variations. Try waxing only the red areas, then apply a clear glaze to the rest of the interior, then wax the entire interior and dip into the exterior glaze. You could add several other colors before you get to the clear glaze as well, waxing each one as you go. Try different methods of application as well; don’t forget about sponges, pouring, trailing, sgraffito, spraying, etc. Let us know what you come up with and send us your results at editor@ceramicartsdaily.org. |
Tags: Ceramic Decorating Techniques, Ceramic Glazing Techniques, commercial glaze, glaze, surface
Marcia | July 22nd, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Thank you for this one! Great ideas, and I was wondering if I could mix Stroke and Coat with Elements. I am new to ceramics so I valued this idea.
-Marcia