RBourland on fri 24 oct 03
In sculpture work, I am using heavily grogged clay (Soldate 30, Dixon,
Redstone, etc) and after running several tests for finishes, have not found
a glaze that does anything but melt into the surface with a dull brownish
glob. Aardvark tells me that Dixon is not made for glazes, but for letting
the surface speak for itself, which makes sense.
What I am wondering is, what kind of surface treatment brings out the best
in heavily grogged clays? Some kind of oil, wax, polyurethane, sealer,
patina, etc?
I am working at ^6, but can bump to ^10 if I have to to get a haunting
surface.
Best,
Roger Bourland
Laura Kneppel on fri 24 oct 03
Hi Roger,
I've only used the Dixon, but I found it looked real nice with a thin
wash of red iron oxide to bring out the grog. of course I also went
over the surface with a wet sponge when it was soft leather-hard to
bring out the texture.
The picture is kind of small so it loads fast, but I have a mask on my
website that is made from Dixon that was bisqued, given a thin wash of
red iron oxide, mostly washed off, had some green glaze on the leaves
and was then fired to cone 6 reduction. I don't know how much reduction
it got since I didn't actually do the firing myself. I love the texture
of the surface and everyone who sees it in person comments favorably on
it, too. It's one everyone has to touch!
The photo is at: http://rockyraku.com/Images/masks/NaturemanKOa2.jpg
Watch out though, doesn't Aardvark list the Dixon as a mid-range fired
claybody?
Good luck in your hunting for the perfect surface treatment!
Laurie
Sacramento, CA
http://rockyraku.com
On Friday, October 24, 2003, at 08:59 AM, RBourland wrote:
> In sculpture work, I am using heavily grogged clay (Soldate 30, Dixon,
> Redstone, etc) and after running several tests for finishes, have not
> found
> a glaze that does anything but melt into the surface with a dull
> brownish
> glob. Aardvark tells me that Dixon is not made for glazes, but for
> letting
> the surface speak for itself, which makes sense.
>
> What I am wondering is, what kind of surface treatment brings out the
> best
> in heavily grogged clays? Some kind of oil, wax, polyurethane, sealer,
> patina, etc?
>
> I am working at ^6, but can bump to ^10 if I have to to get a haunting
> surface.
>
> Best,
>
> Roger Bourland
Chris Clyburn on sat 25 oct 03
I do also do a lot of sculpture work and glaze does tend to detract from the
durface quality (depending on the sculpture of course) So what I use is a
combination of oxide washes and sawdust firings to get a nice surface color
that relates to the piece and then I polish the hell out of with reducing
grits of wet/dry andpaper going from 60 grit to 2000 grit. I get a marble
like surface and to get an even stronger gloss I wil follow up with a
bees-wax/orange oil paste and burnish it with a chamois. It's a lot of work
but the results are worth it.
Chris Clyburn
Snail Scott on sat 25 oct 03
At 08:59 AM 10/24/03 -0700, you wrote:
>What I am wondering is, what kind of surface treatment brings out the best
>in heavily grogged clays?
I think that depends entirely on what your intentions
for the work are. The nature of the surface profoundly
affects the look of the piece, and what one person
considers 'perfect' for their work may be wholly
unsuited for yours, even if it does fit the clay and
fire well.
That said, I generally like matte glazes, especially
slip-glazes that I can apply to greenware, and engobes
of various degrees of vitreousness. (Vitreosity?) They
can be shaded gradually from 'bare clay' to full
coverage at will, withough the weirdnesses that often
arise with thin glaze application. Oxide and stain wipes
can be wonderful on exposed clay, too, and if you've got
a clay that is great 'naked', take advantage of it when
you can! No applied surface can really duplicate it.
-Snail
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