Monday, May 31, 2010

risking it all

I fired the little cazuelas, covered baking dish and deep pie plate. These are pieces that I had applied terra sig to the outside but left the inside surface plain because I wanted glaze there. Since I have not been working in low-fire except for the Majolica class I took a couple years ago, I don't have known/tested glazes. I wanted yellow--or really old gold--inside the pots. So I whipped up a glaze that called for yellow stain and went for it!
However the yellow glaze was not at all yellow after I mixed it up--more like flesh colored. I know about how the colors are not true--wet to fired--but I thought that using 10% yellow stain it would look yellow. I don't have a small test kiln and I'm not intending to stick with earthenware clay so I was not wanting to wait for a test run.
Here is the glaze after it was mixed and had sat around for a couple days:


That was risk #1.




I was delighted with the color I got. But very disappointed in the (my) glaze application. I had sprayed the glaze inside the pots but it was too thin. The rough texture (gritty) of the clay came through the thin coat of glaze and in some places it was so uneven that a thin area was next to a thick area. Very unsatisfactory.

So risk #2.
Today I reglazed all the pots--with the same glaze--and they are now firing for the 3rd time--counting the bisque firing as the first. Some good clayarter (forgot his name) suggested a way to get the glaze to stick to the slick surface of an already glazed pot was to heat the pots to about 400° before spraying a second layer of glaze onto the pots. So that is what I did. I heated the pots in the turkey roaster (that is stored in the studio) to 400° and took them out one by one, put into the spray booth and sprayed on a second coat. Hmmmm...we'll see what tomorrow brings!

8 comments:

Sue Pariseau Pottery said...

Very nice looking yellow! I have had a lot of success with placing pots in the oven to warm them before applying a coat of glaze over an already fired pot. Hope it works well for your too.

Sister Creek Potter said...

Thanks for the encouraging note! Ive got my fingers crossed till I get to open the kiln tomorrow. Nice to meet you, thanks for leaving the note so I could find your blog and see your work--very nice.

Linda Starr said...

Gay, that glaze is spectacular, gritty or not, got my fingers crossed for the next firing. It is a perfect color for the warm tone of the clay. I think if you had gone any more yellow it would have been too yellow against the clay, your mix is perfect.

How did you spray? can you elaborate? I have always wanted to try it and never have had the opportunity or enough knowledge to do it.

I ope all goes well for the re-firing.

Tracey Broome said...

That's a great yellow color. You know I have been ordering commercial glazes from Georgies and Laguna and I really like them. If you don't like the first firing just put it back in and re fire it. I do it all the time. No Fear! These look great!!

Judy Shreve said...

Oh Gay I love the yellow tone you achieved - it's perfect against the red of your clay. I re-fire pieces all the time. Re-firing seems to work better at low fire temps -- so I think you will be happy when you open the kiln. My fingers are crossed too!

Vicki Wenderlich said...

I have also heard of people spraying hairspray onto a glazed pot before spraying on another layer of glaze. Haven't tried it but they waxed positively poetic about it so it must have worked!

Vicki Wenderlich said...

Hi Gay, It's me again... my mother-in-law sent me a facebook message that I think you sent her by mistake :] Her name is also Vicki Wenderlich (yes, strange I know) so it happens sometimes! I looked for you on facebook but couldn't find you, but I'm under Victoria Wenderlich (or you can visit my website, www.vmwstudios.com). Yup, I'm a ceramic artist too, I haven't tried using Elmer's glue to make it stick but that sounds very useful, I will try that!

Sister Creek Potter said...

Vicki, I am much happier with the 'hot pot' method over the hairspray or Elmer's glue. If you can arrange a set-up that works for heating your pot and immediately applying the glaze that is the best method, IMHO!