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glaze and underglaze

updated sat 5 oct 02

 

Snail Scott on thu 3 oct 02


At 06:38 PM 10/3/02 -0600, you wrote:
I was going to use a cone 5 bmix
>(half porcelain-half white stoneware) but am undecided about underglazes,
>since I want something kind of subtle and soft, and also would like
>suggestions on a good strong glaze that could work for a splashboard and at
>the same time not be too glossy.



Underglazes can be applied in many ways - brushing,
sponging, airbrushing, fingerpainting, and more!
They can be mixed together, and thinned, and applied
in layers. There are opaque varieties and translucent
ones. Tremendous subtlety is possible. If you have
time, you can develop your own - a much easier
process than developing a glaze from scratch.

For glaze, you can work from a recipe, but if you
have never mixed glaze before it might be easiest
to just use a commercial one for now, and save the
experiments 'til you have time. I have occasionally
used Laguna's ^5 matte clear with good results. It's
available in liquid form, and as a dry mix. Beware,
it's a magnesium matte, and so can turn dark blues
into orchid purples, but if that's not a factor, it
might be worth a try. Check its fit on B-Mix, though;
it might craze a bit, but I don't use it anymore so
I can't say for sure. In general, though, porcelainous
bodies need lower-expansion glazes than stonewares.
Not sure it B-mix is porcelainous enough for it to
matter; I didn't use mush glaze back when I used B-Mix.
Maybe someone else on Clayart can recommend a good
combo for you.

By the way, I loved your work! I was recently contacted
by a breast-cancer support group looking to do a show
of related art (making life-castings of survivors, in
this case). I am sending them the URL of your work; I
am sure they will appreciate it as much as I did.

-Snail
Reno,NV