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How To Glaze Blue And White, Delft Style?


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There was a great display of small plates with the same motif in the Smithsonian museum of Industry showing tin-glazed products throughout Europe imitating Chinese wares.

 

English delftware was tin-glazed earthenware. You can get the Delftware look by overglaze painting on the raw tin-glaze before firing. It is not simple to do. Some people add starch to the glaze so that it isn't a powdery surface for painting.

 

Al Caiger -Smith is renowned for his tin-glazed lusterware. He wrote the book below:

 

Caiger-Smith, Alan, Tin-glazed Pottery in Europe and the Islamic World: The Tradition of 1000 Years in Maiolica, Faience and Delftware, Faber and Faber, 1973, ISBN 0-571-09349-3

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Hi there,

 

I used to make blue and white, "delft" style pottery in my younger days when I was first starting out and all I had was an electric kiln.  "Blue" was not popular among potters then and it is interesting to see someone asking about it over 20 years later!  Use a tin based white glaze base. For "on glaze" painting, you have to get used to the different values of cobalt oxide and learn to think that way. You can practice on newsprint but be aware that cobalt is expensive.  It is also incredibly potent and the tiniest speck where you don't want it can be a disaster. It may be easier for you to purchase underglaze and work with that.

 

Marie

Maine Delft

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Do you really want a true delft tile or a look alike? A far easier way to achieve the look is to purchase one of Duncan's EZ stroke blue under glazes , paint on your design, then coat with a clear glaze. You can also use it on top of a glaze. The product is easy to use, reliable on a flat surface, cheap in comparison to buying cobalt. A small bottle goes a long way. I have done this type of decoration for many years. Have fun!

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Thanks for all the interesting replies.

I will certainly be following up those leads, Marcia, thanks.

I don't mind a good lookalike, riverside. Really thinking about making some commercial wares. I'll look into the Duncan product you suggested. Blue and white is enjoying a mini revival in the UK, Marie. What people seem to be doing is putting a hipster spin on the traditional technique, by doing quirky motifs. Skulls and that malarky. The prices can be very healthy, which is part of the interest. But really I love this style. I was in a manor house(gunby) where the Huge fireplace was tiled in very old deft. I poked my head right in ( it wasn't lit) and saw designs that no- one had looked at properly for decades. They were like miniature Rembrandt ink sketches. Totally incredible shorthand brush notations.

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  • 2 months later...

Hello,

I am making some blue and white tiles and I have already applied the underglazes. I bought a transparent glaze but I tried it on a broken tile before applying it and everything is turning white! It is the first time I am making ceramics so I don't really know how it works but is it normal and will it become transparent after the firing? Thanks!

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Hello,

I am making some blue and white tiles and I have already applied the underglazes. I bought a transparent glaze but I tried it on a broken tile before applying it and everything is turning white! It is the first time I am making ceramics so I don't really know how it works but is it normal and will it become transparent after the firing? Thanks!

 

It is normal for the raw glaze to be whiteish. Most of the rocks put into glazes are white. A white or transparent glaze will look the same or very similar before firing.

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Hello,

I am making some blue and white tiles and I have already applied the underglazes. I bought a transparent glaze but I tried it on a broken tile before applying it and everything is turning white! It is the first time I am making ceramics so I don't really know how it works but is it normal and will it become transparent after the firing? Thanks!

That is not unusual . . . I've used clear glazes that apply pink in color. My regular clear is tan when applied over underglazes.

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to save a firing, try applying the glaze first to dry greenware and add Mayco blue Stroke N coat over it.  the brushstrokes show up like the sample photographed in post 6.

 

oops, i am assuming a white clay and a white glaze.  does not have to be a tin glaze.

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