[INYA]

hi, this is another newbie post...

I have "white" Witgert 100 stoneware body. I guessmajority of you don`t use german bodies but anyway. There is no truly whitestoneware body in the neighbourhood, trust me I have been searching for over ayear. Today I opened my kiln with test pieces fired on cone 6-7 (2000 celsius)and the result is gray/brownish gray colour.

So I thought I could make it more white.




I`ve got white powdered engobe and white mason stain. What can Ido?

Could I do the slip and dip my pieces into it? Pint it over? Could I still useother undercolors after that?

I tried white engobe (I hope you can see on the inside of thesmall cup) but it is quite uneven, spotty although I painted it three times.And the surface is uneven.

Should I make slip with my body and mason stain and dip/spray it over?

What do you think is the best solution?




My plan was to make quite high contrast cups so I need at least white inside of a cup and maybe 1/4 of the outside.




Thanks




Any ideas?

thanks

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[Chris Campbell]

Is there a reason not to use a white glaze on the inside and lip?

[INYA]

Chris Campbell, on 10 April 2012 - 04:57 PM, said:

Is there a reason not to use a white glaze on the inside and lip?

The reason is that I would like nice smooth even surface on the whole piece and I don`t know how to do that with two glazes. I have bad experiences using two glazes. Plus my plan was to have something drawn on the white part of the outside.

I guess that if I glaze inside of a cup with pouring in and out (some pieces are very narrow so that is my only choice), I will pour some glaze on outside too and if that would be different from the outside that would cause problems.


So: white inside, white + drawing outside, colour + drawing outside.

?

[Chris Campbell]

When I want to have a nice white surface on an off color clay body I use porcelain slip. Buy a good white porcelain clay ... I know you have great porcelains in Europe ... then just using water mix in a blender until you get a rich, yogurt thick slip. Brush it onto the cheese hard surface ... or thin it a bit and dip it. Nine times out of ten it adheres nicely. You can draw on it before or after bisque firing it.
I have some images on my website : http://www.ccpottery.com/slips.html

This might not solve all your questions, but it is another process to consider if glazes don't work. You could also consider using a Cone 6 porcelain if you really want something whiter ... why stick to stoneware?

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[Marcia Selsor]

maybe a white terra sig...even fired to a high temperature could give you a white skin.
Marcia

[Mark C.]

My first choice would be switch to a white clay
My second option is what Chris above mentioned -cover it with white slip-if its only a few pieces then fine other wise its going to lots of extra work.
I cover many a stoneware clay pot with porcelain slip for my salt fires or just parts of them. I brush it on leather hard -with this you always run a risk of it popping off. I also have had some luck at spraying slips watered down in a high volume low pressure sprayer.Again this was for salt pots.
Mark

[INYA]

Thanks for suggestions,

this week I will try porcelain slip and slip made from my body + white mason stain

Marc I would love to switch to white clay as long as it fires to cone 6. I am really struggling here.
Porcelain drives me crazy with the warping... I mean as a body not a slip.

[Chris Campbell]

I think that if you posted a description of exactly what you want to do decoration wise it would really help us give you suggestions that would be of use. Or perhaps you could post an image of a pot that looks like what you want to do.
Right now we are just responding to a narrow focus and better ideas would come with more information. We might be able to point you in a whole different direction that could prove more successful ... And a lot less frustrating for you.

[INYA]

Today I tried out some of your suggestions, I will fire it in 2-3 days.
I have tried dipping leatherhard piece into porcelain slip, dipping bone dry piece into porcelain slip, tainting stoneware body with white mason stain, dipping leatherhard piece into white engobe, dipping bone dry piece into white engobe.
Right now dipping bone dry into porcelain slip looks the best but I will see what happens in the kiln...
Chris I have seen your picture of white slip applied - I can`t get it smooth like on your photo. I was working on a cup, since I don`t plan any tiles. Your claylessons are admirable and I really enjoyed the studio tour on your site!
I like for example work of Erin Furimsky - I am keen on patterns and I do a lot of illustrations and graphic design for a living so and my claywork will go in that direction.Thanks for all the help!

[INYA]

The day of despair...
I opened a kiln and guess what -nothing is really white

I got the best result with porcelain slip but all I got was yellowish/cream off white and the application had to be quite thick. There was no cracking or peeling though.

BUT it is not white

It looks like I would have to move to US or Australia... it is a little too much to expect from me, what do you think?

[Chris Campbell]

So sorry ... what a way to kill a nice Saturday!!

However, onward to the next test ... you don't want to hear it but ... try, try, try again.

Try firing your clay to bisque, then applying the porcelain slip on the bisqued clay . It might cover better.

Consider re-thinking your clay body. Is there only one white-ish clay body available in all Europe?

Try adapting your look to glaze ... you can have a high fired white glaze then use overglazes to decorate ... they fire at a much lower temperature so would not disturb your glaze coat.

Post an image of the exact look you are going for ... it would help.

Remember, this will all make a good story someday when you are asked how long it takes you to do that.

[INYA]

Thanks Chris for your words...

The problem is that I know you guy have this beautiul white Tucker stoneware and that is what I want. I have already tried porcelain slip on bisque, cos I had some already. The problem is obviously that my porcelain is not exactely snow white... I have 3 different porcelains at my studio and none of the is really really white.

I have just been surfing a little and found out that they might have something in Ireland -I have already ordered something from that web commerce, but the postage is 130 dollars for a 50 kg bag (just the postage). And that is just too much for a test. My familly is joking I am a collector.
I might be searching for a thing that is just not possible to find.

[INYA]

yep, great story though

[Chris Campbell]

There is an amazing white, white porcelain clay body from Hungary ... Don't know if that is harder or easier to get.

[Mudlark]

INYA, on 11 April 2012 - 01:29 AM, said:

hi, this is another newbie post...

I have "white" Witgert 100 stoneware body. I guessmajority of you don`t use german bodies but anyway. There is no truly whitestoneware body in the neighbourhood, trust me I have been searching for over ayear. Today I opened my kiln with test pieces fired on cone 6-7 (2000 celsius)and the result is gray/brownish gray colour.

So I thought I could make it more white.




I`ve got white powdered engobe and white mason stain. What can Ido?

Could I do the slip and dip my pieces into it? Pint it over? Could I still useother undercolors after that?

I tried white engobe (I hope you can see on the inside of thesmall cup) but it is quite uneven, spotty although I painted it three times.And the surface is uneven.

Should I make slip with my body and mason stain and dip/spray it over?

What do you think is the best solution?




My plan was to make quite high contrast cups so I need at least white inside of a cup and maybe 1/4 of the outside.




Thanks




Any ideas?

thanks

[Mudlark]

Mudlark, on 15 April 2012 - 11:38 AM, said:

INYA, on 11 April 2012 - 01:29 AM, said:

hi, this is another newbie post...

I have "white" Witgert 100 stoneware body. I guessmajority of you don`t use german bodies but anyway. There is no truly whitestoneware body in the neighbourhood, trust me I have been searching for over ayear. Today I opened my kiln with test pieces fired on cone 6-7 (2000 celsius)and the result is gray/brownish gray colour.

So I thought I could make it more white.




I`ve got white powdered engobe and white mason stain. What can Ido?

Could I do the slip and dip my pieces into it? Pint it over? Could I still useother undercolors after that?

I tried white engobe (I hope you can see on the inside of thesmall cup) but it is quite uneven, spotty although I painted it three times.And the surface is uneven.

Should I make slip with my body and mason stain and dip/spray it over?

What do you think is the best solution?




My plan was to make quite high contrast cups so I need at least white inside of a cup and maybe 1/4 of the outside.




Thanks




Any ideas?

thanks

[INYA]

I have been to Hungary (Keckemet) on a seminar two years ago, they have a porcelain factory there-Herend (or something) and you can try their porcelain there but you can not buy it- it is a bussines secret.

But the color and everything is just wonderful...

Then I bought a hungarian porcelain in a shop, it supposed to be really white but it is not. The slip I used previous week on my stoneware is made from that one.


I am leaning toward ordering this Irish thing at the moment.