The Wide Stripes

Remember this piece? I finally had it fired and glazed.




I quite like the stripe effect from this angle:



The glaze is a very dark brown that appears black. I used wax on the bisqued piece to block off the sections with no glaze. (First marking the lines with a pencil and filling in with a brush and liquid wax goo.) I wanted to see what it would look like to contrast bare clay with the blackish glaze. I like how the specks in the clay are the same color as the glaze. It's coordinated! Not too bad, eh? Especially considering I don't glaze often so my glazing skills are somewhat mediocre. I'm just pleased with the clean lines where the glaze stops.

Glazing Pip, etc.

Dipped bottom in denim blue glaze. (There wasn't enough of the green I wanted, so I opted for the blue I knew would work.) Then sponged off the glaze that pooled on the waxed parts (the bottom and on the Pip deco).



Time to dunk the top in white.



There will be a little overlap. The colors in this case will mix to make a light blue.



The result in profile:



The inspiration for my glazing scheme comes from this wheel-thrown mug by Whitefish Pottery, Whitefish, Montana.

Red iron oxide, glaze

This pot is...kind of hideous. (It's called "Strange Slope".) Red iron oxide (powder mixed in water) is brushed on, then the excess sponged off. There is no glaze on this piece.

I like how it kind of looks like blood in the sink.



Glaze is different than a stain because it has a more complex recipe and a glass-forming agent and so on, while the stain in this case is just one ingredient (iron oxide might be used as a colorant in some glaze recipes).

To glaze this piece, I started by pouring glaze inside (with the help of a funnel). You can see I overfilled it and it spilled on the counter. Glaze is easily wiped off with a wet sponge. You can see there's a chunk in the glaze that I might rub off when it dries (it just dries to a powder) or leave it there because it won't hurt anything. Since I had to get the outside wet because of the spill, I didn't want to glaze the outside yet because I want the clay to be fairly dry. Then it can suck up the water in the glaze, causing it to stick.

I ran out of time but I'll finish it tomorrow. The inside is glossy white and the outside will be a forest or olive green. To glaze the outside, I'll dip the piece rather than pour. Actually I'll dip the bottom portion in green, and the top portion in the white, so it will look similar to the bottle I posted previously.