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black-in-black effect

updated fri 28 jan 05

 

Petra Hahn on tue 25 jan 05


Hi folks,

I've spend hours to surf with Helen's links. They're always a big
inspiration. Thank you, Helen.
Then I found that phantastic ceramics of Mata Ortiz and I'm fazcinated of
that black-in black technique.
I've read that it is made with smoke reduction, but is it possible to cause
a similar matte/glossy effect in a stoneware firing in an electric kiln?
I've already seen porcelaine pieces in deep black with glossy ornaments, so
there should be a way to do that in a high firing.

Greetings
Petra

Bruce Girrell on tue 25 jan 05


>I'm fazcinated of that black-in black technique.

In some of the pieces it's actually black in black in black!
I don't know if any of this will help or not, but I can give some background
on how the Mata Ortiz pieces are done.

The three levels of black are 1) unburnished clay, 2) burnished clay, and 3)
clay that has been painted with oxides. In a smoke firing, all of these turn
black. The burnished clay is a shiny, very, very dark black. The oxide paint
is matte and very dark. The unburnished clay is matte and has the lightest
shade, though still definitely black.

The Mata Ortiz pots are once-fired to a low temperature (probably about
^010), so you will need to create a different technique to achieve similar
results in high fire work. The black matte probably won't be too hard
(though getting a good black can be a challenge in itself), but getting a
good gloss black that doesn't also run or bleed into the matte areas may be
the bigger challenge. Looks like line blend time to me.

One possibility that you might consider is staining the porcelain/stoneware
black. It takes quite a bit of stain, but it's possible. That would give you
a nice matte background. The all you need is a gloss black to go over that.

Good luck

Bruce "black is beautiful" Girrell

BJ Clark - 100 Watt Design on tue 25 jan 05


Petra,

It is much easier to accomplish this effect with cow pies.
This is how we did it at my college:
1. Throw your pot, burnish the crap out of it (with a polished rock or
even some stainless steel). Red, low fire clay works best (earthenware
is great).
2. Apply a terra sig. made from redart clay where you want the matte
finish. (the burnished pot makes the shiny black).
3. (Optional) Soft bisque your pots (we did it to 010) (reduced
breakage).
4. Build a grate to put the pots on (we used some rolled out steel
grate our professor had at his farm and then a couple cinder blocks).
5. Put a bunch of wood and saw dust under the grate and lay cow pies
(dried obviously) over the whole thing atleast a foot deep.
6. Light the wood up, when the whole thing is up and going, smoother
with more pies or horse manure and some dirt so it puts all the flames
out and really lets it smoke.
7. Let it burn out and check out your pots.

There's a really good Maria Martinez video (I think The Potters Shop
carries it). It pretty much lays out the whole thing.


So, for your whole original question, can you do it in an electric
kiln. Sure, you could possibly fill the kiln up with cow pies or such,
but would you really want to do that?
It's a fun thing to do on a lazy afternoon.

-----
BJ Clark
Stinking Desert Ceramics
bjclark@stinkingdesert.com


On Jan 25, 2005, at 9:03 AM, Petra Hahn wrote:

> Hi folks,
>
> I've spend hours to surf with Helen's links. They're always a big
> inspiration. Thank you, Helen.
> Then I found that phantastic ceramics of Mata Ortiz and I'm fazcinated
> of
> that black-in black technique.
> I've read that it is made with smoke reduction, but is it possible to
> cause
> a similar matte/glossy effect in a stoneware firing in an electric
> kiln?
> I've already seen porcelaine pieces in deep black with glossy
> ornaments, so
> there should be a way to do that in a high firing.
>
> Greetings
> Petra
>
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>

bonnie staffel on wed 26 jan 05


One way to get black on black, is to use a rubber template and do sand
blasting on a glossy black glaze. We had one at Campbell for a while so I
experimented with it. The rubber stencil had a sticky side so that it could
be applied to even a round object. Some of you clever potters could build a
sand blasting box. A lot of the sand is reclaimable, I believe.

Bonnie Staffel
http://webpages.charter.net/bstaffel/
http://vasefinder.com/bstaffelgallery1.html
Charter Member Potters Council

Lee Love on thu 27 jan 05


bonnie staffel wrote:

>be applied to even a round object. Some of you clever potters could build a
>sand blasting box. A lot of the sand is reclaimable, I believe.
>
>
Easiest way would be to raku, using a black glaze, resist and
post-firing reduction: shiney where the glaze is, matt where the body
is reduced.

--
Lee in Mashiko, Japan http://mashiko.org
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