To ensure that your decals show well, do well to use light-colored glaze. Before you glaze and bisque the part of the piece you desire, wipe the surface to remove dust, fingerprints, or stains. Go on to trim the decal, then soak in lukewarm water.
If you apply your transfer onto leather hard clay, then bisque fire it, you can normally glaze it by any method you typically use from brushing to pouring. However, these images can be fragile until they are covered with a glaze.
To use, simply attach the image you wish to transfer to the back of the graffito paper and hold the front side against your pot. Then, carefully, using a dull pencil or a ballpoint pen, firmly trace the image and voila! You will see how the image is transferred to the bisqueware.
Hold down one edge and gently slide the paper from under the decal, leaving the image on the covercoat only. Warming the ceramic/glass is also helpful. Heat lamps or a hot plate with kiln-furniture to support the ceramic or glass allows for gentle heat- warm to touch. This helps keep the decal flexible.
Underglaze pencils, pens, and crayons can be great for ceramic artists who may have started with a background in painting or drawing. Underglazes are basically clay-based materials with ceramic stains and metallic oxides added and they come in a variety of forms – liquid, dry, chalks, pens and underglaze pencils.
Applying Underglaze on Top of Fired GlazeA medium like CMC gum will help the stain stick to the glossy glazed surface. However, if the piece is fired to a hotter temperature, the glaze will melt again. As a result, the underglaze melts into the surface of the glaze to create a smooth surface.
Normally underglaze does not stick to the kilns shelf when it is fired. Most modern underglaze does contain silica, which melts when it is fired. So, your underglaze may become a bit sticky.
Most of the underglazes may be left unglazed to create a matt look similar to engobes. If fired higher on an appropriate clay body, the result may be slightly satin in appearance. If used in this way, they are mainly suitable for use on non functional ware.
Painting with underglaze on pottery can be done either during the greenware phase, or the bisque phase. Nikki Mizak chooses to do her underglaze painting on bisque fired clay and enjoys building up layers as you do in watercolor painting.
Underglazes are used in pottery to create designs and patterns that come up through the glaze covering them. This can give the surface more visual depth and character. Although they are often used under clear glazes, they can also be used under other, generally light-colored, transparent glazes.
A solid base layer of 2-3 coats of underglaze is important for the color to appear without streaking, but once you've got that down, you can use introduce water into the mix and start thinning down your underglaze to create washes.
Using Duncan Concepts Underglazes is as easy as one-two-three! They have a versatile formula that allows for translucent designs with one coat and solid opaque coverage with three. They're also nontoxic and food-safe with the application of three solid coats and food-safe when clear glaze is applied over them.
Concepts Underglaze for Bisque by Duncan (Mayco)Normal use is to apply 1-3 coats on bisque, let dry and cover with two coats of your favorite clear glaze. Use them as Majolica paints on top of unfired non-moving opaque white or light colored glaze. No need to clear glaze as Concepts are shiny when fired.
For use on clay or greenware, apply underglaze, allow to dry and fire to cone 04. If desired, apply clear glaze and re-fire to cone 06-05 for earthenware and cone 5-10 for stoneware (998°C–1285°C).
You can also experiment with adding water to your underglaze. Underglaze can be thinned out with water and used as a watercolor wash. It's usually recommended that you use 3 layers of underglaze to build up opacity. So, if you dilute underglaze with water, you will need more layers to build up the color.
In order to make your own ceramic glaze, simply mix a glaze powder with water. It is a relatively simple process. The overall process involves measuring out water, mixing the glaze powder into the water, sieving, adjusting viscosity or density, and letting the glaze sit before it is applied to your bisque-ware.
Stroke & Coat can be mixed with other non-toxic glazes to create a piece that shows off your unique style. Apply over any non-moving glaze, underglaze or Astro Gem surface.
Transfer any printed image on your pottery using these simple steps:
- Paint 2 coats cone 06 glaze, let dry, cut out an image printed on a decal paper and soak in warm water.
- Wet the area the slide image off of backing paper.
- Gently push water and bubbles out from center toward edges.
- Fire to cone 06.
- You will need water, scissors and a small sponge.
- Cut out the ceramic transfer paper, as required.
- Work with unglazed raw clay, leatherhard, pottery or bisque ware.
- Soak sponge and squeeze to remove excess water.
- Sponge lightly around area where transfer will be applied.
Rice paper transfers are one way to do that. It is a very thin, lightweight material, which allows for smooth and even image transfer onto flat or curved surfaces. When placed oxide-side down onto clay (bisque or green ware) and the back of the paper is moistened with water, the image will transfer onto the clay.
slip-transfer: Paint the slab with white slip. On newspaper, paint your image with black slip. Apply newspaper image to white slip, rub newspaper and slowly peel paper up. Black slip image should transfer.
Rice paper is a very thin, lightweight material, which allows for smooth and even image transfer onto flat or curved surfaces. When placed oxide-side down onto clay (bisque or greenware) and the back of the paper is moistened with water, the image will transfer onto the clay. They work very similar to fake tattoos!
