Wendy Peck on sun 16 feb 03
Hi all,
I have been making black-on-black sawdust-fired pots, but am trying to get
the painted part of the pots to have a more sueded finish like the great
pots of this type. I am burnishing the pot to a high shine before painting.
The pots are once-fired in a small, upside down oil bucket "kiln" with
sawdust inside, and a bonfire on top. I understand that this method of
firing reaches approx cone 012. The burnishing and the black is great - no
complaints there.
Originally, I was using a slip provided at the workshop for the painted
parts that resist most of the smoke and are supposed to end up a dull dark
charcoal grey. The results weren't bad. That slip was light grey as a
liquid, and changed little in colour when used for a cone 012 oxidation
firing.
However, I ran out, and now have painting slip that is really a terra
sigillata, using OM4. It holds off enough of the black for the right effect,
but there is a slight sheen on the painted parts, even though it is never
burnished or polished in any way. That sheen interferes with the contrast of
the shiny to matte areas that makes the pattern clear.
Can anyone think of anything I can add to the slip to lose all sheen? I've
considered using the heavy part of the clay mix that settled out before I
took off the middle layer. Trouble with that idea is that I am using a human
hair brush (made as part of the workshop) to be able to create very fine
lines. I learned to paint two coats - the original was quite thin. I have a
feeling that heavier slip will not work as well as the finer particles, but
even my limited pottery common sense is telling me that any terra sigillata
type mix will have more sheen than I want.
I thought I would check here to see if anyone has any ideas. The pots I use
this on are hand-built, scraped and sanded to a smooth finish, then
burnished with a rock, so I have a lot invested before the painting and
firing stage.
Thanks in advance for any ideas you may have.
Wendy
Great Web Typography: Techniques for great CSS and graphic text, with tips
from top industry professionals. Just released. http://wpeck.com/type/
KISS: Keep It Simple ... Create effective, CSS-controlled menus and menu
areas with Wendy Peck at http://productiongraphics.com
Author: Menus with Beauty and Brains and Weekend Crash Course Dreamweaver MX
and 4 (Amazon.com)
Wendy Peck http://wpeck.com
BobWicks@AOL.COM on mon 17 feb 03
Wendy:
If you fire your TS just a little higher you will find that the shine is
somewhat diminished.
Bob
Snail Scott on mon 17 feb 03
At 02:18 PM 2/16/03 -0600, you wrote:
>I have been making black-on-black sawdust-fired pots, but am trying to get
>the painted part of the pots to have a more sueded finish like the great
>pots of this type.
>I thought I would check here to see if anyone has any ideas...
I use plain old commercial underglazes for this.
They flow smoothly in a fine human-hair brush,
bond well to a burnished clay surface, and stay
matt after firing. The result is very similar to
the look of traditional slip-painting.
-Snail
Wendy Peck on wed 19 feb 03
Snail,
Thanks for the suggestion for using commercial underglazes to replace
painting slip for blackware. I painted a sample tonight, and it certainly
works from the application perspective. I will paint a couple of my small
pots and fire this weekend. I received another suggestion offline, and had
one more thought myself. I'll try to test all this weekend and report back
on the results.
Wendy
Great Web Typography: Techniques for great CSS and graphic text, with tips
from top industry professionals. Just released. http://wpeck.com/type/
KISS: Keep It Simple ... Create effective, CSS-controlled menus and menu
areas with Wendy Peck at http://productiongraphics.com
Author: Menus with Beauty and Brains and Weekend Crash Course Dreamweaver MX
and 4 (Amazon.com)
| |
|
