Wednesday, May 29, 2013

blue cats and more ceramics

Nothing you haven't seen before here. These are some sketches for cat-shaped dishes I'm thinking of making in ceramics. I've figured out another glazing technique that works well for the painted detail I'm after with a delft-like blue wash over a milky white glaze. Here's a test tile I made in this method:

It was pretty exciting to have something that's high fired come out well after weeks of failed attempts. All the successful pieces I've been making are low fired, so it's easier to paint detail, as glazes and oxides tend to run or react unexpectedly when the kiln is super hot. But this is working! The feel of the ceramic after it's high fired is also so satisfying, the clay is stronger and has a nice "tink!" when you tap it.

4 comments:

  1. oh, those plates sounds like they'll be amazing!

    all my glazing attempts have turned out pretty much perfectly so far... but then again, they've all been mindless "oh i'll just paint it this colour with this pattern" experiments. now that i'm actually making a start on things that i've been planning, i'm hoping that luck will carry through!

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    1. Thanks Jen! Hopefully I can make them happen.

      Yeah your pieces look great from what I've seen, please post more! Looking forward to seeing what you do, perhaps I'll end up with an original Jen Collins cat to be friends with my Kaye cat :)

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  2. What process/ glazes do you use? I tried using a photo lithography printing method for awhile and it just wasn't working for me.
    I love you designs!
    Leah Faye
    e plus l

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    1. I build everything by hand, usually out of white stoneware, or sometimes with the other clays at the studio, and then it's bisque fired. After that I apply glaze and fire again - the high fired pieces are fired to cone 10. All the glazes the studio makes themselves, but what I've been doing is coating it in a white and then painting on top with washes/oxides for the detail. Hope this means anything, the process may just be specific to the studio I'm working at! I've found a lot of it is just experimenting and trial and error. Good luck! Xo

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