marci Boskie's Mama =^..^= on wed 8 feb 06
HI,
I am new to the clayart listserv although I have been an addicted
archives browser for a long time now... I work in overglazes on
commercially available forms and am not a potter... yet... although Paul
Lewing is trying his level best to turn me into one :O) . There was a
question in the last week that I might be able to help with from Mallory
Serebrin asking about what to thin lusters with and how to clean the brushes...
There were some very good answers but Id like to add to it: In general
, lusters should be fine to use straight out of the bottle unless theyve
been sitting around for a long time and have started to get syrupy thick.(
carmine and red lusters tend to jell pretty quickly but most other lusters
will stay good for a long time) ..In that case, turp, mineral spirits,
luster or gold essence, lemon oil or a small amount of dispersing fluid
will thin them. Lusters do need to be applied in a very thin film . If
they are on too thick, they will burn off ( mother of pearl type lusters
are especially notorious for doing this) ... You can also thin lusters on
the piece and prolong working time by spreading on a layer of lavender oil
and then dropping the luster into the lavender oil and brushing it out
from there... It is better to apply the lusters too thin and have to
fire and then reapply a 2nd coat to deepen the color than to put them on
too thick...
Many luster artists keep a separate brush for each luster color . It
is possible to keep a brush with luster or gold on it soft by cutting a
hole large enough for the brush handle to fit through snuggly in the cap of
a small glass jar or glass test tube , then insert the brush handle into
the cap taking care that the bristles dont hit the bottom of
the container when the cap is on... Adding a small wad of cotton soaked in
lavendar oil to the bottom of the bottle will keep the bristles soft (
dont let the bristles touch the cotton ...and dont use a plastic container
.. the lav oil will eat the plastic) . This also saves on gold since you
dont wash out any gold that is on the brush ... You can also clean a
gold brush in a small amount of lemon oil or lavender oil ( lemon oil
works the best ) and let the gold residue build up in the bottom of the
container.. Then, when youve accumulated a fair amount of gold at the
bottom, let the lemon oil evaporate and use the gold residue at the
bottom for a base coat of gold on a piece...
You can also clean gold and luster brushes by setting up a series of 3
or 4 small jars filled with Acetone. Keep them numbered so you use them
in the same order each time.. Start with the first jar which will remove
most of the luster /gold from the brush , then on to the next jar down
the line... each jar will remove whatever luster/gold that remains in
the brush and by the time you get to the last jar, all of the luster/ gold
should be out of the brush ...
One caution: in the answers from last week , it was mentioned
that you could use turp to thin Liquid bright gold... That is true for
some liquid brights..but there are different companies
manufacturing liquid bright.. and variations in gold content also .. and
some LB Golds dont tolerate turp . They will turn dark or spotty when
fired... so , either test your gold first or use another solvent
like gold essence . mineral spirits or lemon oil to thin LB gold...Turp
is fine to use with Roman gold or powdered gold however.
Just one more note: traditional wisdom about lusters says to fire
them at cooler temps cone 017 or 018... but with a few exceptions, I
generally fire my lusters at a hotter cone 015. I find I get a
sturdier luster . Most lusters today will take a hotter fire . I will
sometimes get a slight color shift in the purple lusters toward blue
with the hotter fire .
Marci Blattenberger Boskie's Mama =^..^=
http://www.marciblattenberger.com
Marci@ppio.com
Porcelain Painters International Online http://www.ppio.com
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