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marbling with slip

updated sat 13 may 00

 

Christine ROSE on wed 10 may 00

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I have a student ( high school) who would like to communicate with anyone =
who
uses different colored slips on leatherhard clay to create marbling designs.
she needs advice about the technique as well as design considerations. Can
anyone help?

Thanks,
Christine Rose
Glendale High School
1440 E. Broadway
Glendale CA 91205
CRose=40Glendale.k12.ca.us

Alex Wilson on thu 11 may 00

Sure, drop me a line off-list or on, and I'd be happy to share the technique
_I_ know.
Been marbling all sorts of pots for about twenty years and the craftsmen
before me for hundreds of years more. A beautifully simple decoration
technique - just don't overdo it!

Alex Wilson
The Scottish Potter
106 J. Ave.,
Nevada,
IA. 50201-1834
USA

Vince Pitelka on fri 12 may 00

For techniques like marbling and feather combing, be sure to use flocculated
slips, so that they do not intermix upon contact more than you want them to.
Use 1/2 of 1% epsom salts, figured from the dry weight of the slip batch,
and dissolve in hot water, and add to the water for the slip. The slips
should be mixed to a consistency where a brush dragged through the surface
leaves no raised wake at all. For slip techniques like trailing and feather
combing, I always use ear-syringe bulbs with basketball-inflating needles
(with rounded ends cut off). The work best if you attach a short length of
1/16"-I.D. medical I.V. tubing to the end of the needle, to give a flexible
tip. For feather combing, lay down concentric bands of contrasting slips,
or lay a wide band of one slip and overlay narrow bands of other slips.
Drag a flexible, fine-pointed tool, like a piece of medium fishing line
across the concentric lines to pull the colors. Work on freshly-thrown
wares, and work quickly, because the clay will draw moisture out of the slip
very quickly, thickening the slip and diminishing the effect.

For marbleizing, I like to do the entire flat bottom of a wide plate or
bowl. I wet a wide hakeme brush thoroughy, shake out all water, saturate it
well with the desired slip, begin laying slip upon the desired area of the
rotating plate or bowl, and just feed more slip behind the brush with the
slip-trailing bulb until I have a good thick uniform layer. This is much
more effective than repeatedly dipping the brush in slip. I then overlay
other colors using the slip-trailing bulbs. As above, work quickly. When
you have laid down all your colors, pry the bat off the wheel, pick it up,
and hit the side of the bat with the heel of your hand, causing the colors
to move around in the liquid slip. Sometimes it works best to hit it once
or twice, rotate the bat, and hit it some more. Experiment.

Whether you do feather-combing or marbling, be sure to dry the plates very
slowly to trimming consistency. A damp-box works great, or just build a
little "tent" by running horizontal sticks across between some bricks,
spanning the plates, to hold plastic sheets up off the surface of the
plates. Don't let anything touch the wet slip.

Reminds me of a good kitty story. In Blue Lake, California in the late 70s
and early 80s I had two studio cats, Fritz and Mama. Fritz was clumsy,
which is unusual for a cat, but he was a dear. One day I was cranking out
feather-combed plates, and I had several continuous rows of them on the
recycled store shelves, which extended around three sides of my glazing room
with no vertical obstructions. Fritz jumped up onto one shelf, and
proceeded to walk the entire length of the three walls, stepping on every
plate, tracking wet slip with him. When I walked in and saw him, he was
about two thirds of the way around the studio, trying to shake the slip off
his little paws. All I could do was laugh.
Best wishes -
- Vince

Vince Pitelka
Home - vpitelka@DeKalb.net
615/597-5376
Work - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 ext. 111, fax 615/597-6803
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
http://www.craftcenter.tntech.edu/

David Simone on fri 12 may 00


----------
>From: Alex Wilson
>To: CLAYART@LSV.UKY.EDU
>Subject: Re: marbling with slip
>Date: Thu, May 11, 2000, 2:43 PM
>

>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Sure, drop me a line off-list or on, and I'd be happy to share the
technique
>_I_ know.
>Been marbling all sorts of pots for about twenty years and the craftsmen
>before me for hundreds of years more. A beautifully simple decoration
>technique - just don't overdo it!
>
>I'd like any info. for my students as well. Thanks!

friedlover on fri 12 may 00

Currently doing this with different color clays, wedging oxides into slurry
and reconditioning it. If interested student can contact me at
Friedlover@msn.com

----- Original Message -----
From: Christine ROSE
To:
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2000 7:53 PM
Subject: marbling with slip


----------------------------Original message----------------------------
------------------
I have a student ( high school) who would like to communicate with anyone
who
uses different colored slips on leatherhard clay to create marbling designs.
she needs advice about the technique as well as design considerations. Can
anyone help?

Thanks,
Christine Rose
Glendale High School
1440 E. Broadway
Glendale CA 91205
CRose@Glendale.k12.ca.us