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Slip Trailing


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I'm trying to refine my skills at slip trailing and struggling. ï»¿I'm having trouble getting slip to squirt in a smooth flowing manner, sometimes on top of one another and with feathering.


Mixing it thin and putting lots of Epson salts in it to flocculate helps a great deal but I can't get it to flow like I see in these two videos.




 


Do you have any suggestions?


 


Are there some additives that would improve the flow?


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All I ever use is clay and water.  I use an old blender to mix.  I then put it through a screen. (150?)  I have made larger batches using a drill mixer.  I practice a lot.  Just using a batt.  Swirl, swirl, swirl, then wipe off.  I found too much epson salt caused the trailing to dry uneven.  Make sure what ever your slip trailing on is no drier than leather hard. 

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Marcia

 

From my experiment so far, slip seem quite tolerant of a wide variation in the  mix of vinegar and glycerin.  Almost, the more glycerin the better. Of course, I haven't had a chance to fire my experiments yet. So this leads to another question. When firing, is there any downside to having a lot of glycerin in the slips?

 

Thanks

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Hey,

There are a couple of articles in the book, "Ceramics in America, 2001".

 

1. Dots, Dashes, and Squiggles: Early English Slipware Technology by

Michelle Erickson and Robert Hunter

 

2. Slip Decoration in the age of Industrialization by

Donald Carpentier and Jonathan Rickard

 

Both articles have bibliographies.

 

See if you can find a copy thru an inner library loan... Or just buy it.

 

I have several volumes of the Ceramics in America series. Some I haven't had time to open.

 

See ya,

Alabama

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larry what kind of container do you use for slip trailing? trailing bottles, bulb syringe or just a hair dye bottle?

 

do you trail immediately on wet clay? and then trim later?

 

thanks for asking this question. it really helped me out. :)

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I am using tattoo wash bottles from eBay. You need a dozen of them for about $10. They seem to work well and are easy to clean. I like the long L-shaped delivery spout.  Instead of putting needles in the end to keep them from drying out I use electricians wire nuts to seal the end of the delivery to between uses. They're much easier than trying to stick a pin in a tiny hole that is full of goop when your hands are slimy.

 

 

I'm not actually doing slip trailing. I'm doing glaze trailing on bisque.I did not want to add confusion by making that distinction. I have found that this works very well if you just soak the pot in water for a while so the bisque is saturated. Being a real amateur at this, I wanted to make sure I could easily get my mistakes off over and over. 

 

Now I'm working on some nonrunning glazes ffrom the majolica world.

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ooh larry that sounds fascinating and you've now raised a million questions in me. its something I've thought about. especially on vertical faces with the movement of the glaze. 

 

now i understand why you needed a thickening agent instead of just adding clay. 

 

so ready for a million questions?

 

if you soak the pot won't less glaze stick to the pot? so does enough glaze stick to the pot? (i did try glaze trailing once but it just rolled off the pot so i let it go but its been at the back of my mind). but u won't know until you fire. 

 

this was the video that inspired me. http://ceramicartsdaily.org/pottery-making-techniques/ceramic-glazing-techniques/video-of-the-week-glaze-trailing-beautiful-surface-designs/

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So far, getting enough glaze to stick does not seem to be a problem.I can easily get too much glaze piled on if I'm not careful.  However, I suspect that it could be a problem if the surface of the wet bisque pot actually had fluid water on it. 

 

I wipe off any excess water then l let the pot stand a few minutes for evaporation to remove the residual fluid water. Beyond that, the dampness or the soaking time of the bisque does not seem to be critical.  

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  • 4 weeks later...

here are a couple of things I have learned in my experiments

 

1. sometimes my thick glaze trailing of one glaze upon another would end up with a surface that looked like it was populated with potato chips, i.e. peeling off in flakes that were sticking up strangely. This seems to be solved by mixing a significant portion of Elmers glue in the trailing glaze.  This seems to make even very thick application stick well.

 

2.  I started off using tatoo wash bottles. I have switched to using 30 mL plastic syringes from eBay. They are about $6.60 for 10 of them delivered. I seem to have much more consistent control of the flow I suspect because I'm squeezing on a solid column of glaze versus compressing air in the tattoo bottle which in turn would squirt out the glaze... sometimes a little bursts if my glaze were not perfectly even and lump free. With the syringes when you have a little lump you can feel the extra resistance. That's time to do a minor squirt on a test tile to get rid of the obstruction before you spatter it on your pot.

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30 mL plastic syringes

 

 

That's a good idea. I've found that the little bottles don't work for me, neither does the bulb. So I'm going to give this a go

 

 

 

I happened to have one (that I use to fill the bulb type trailer) and tried it yesterday , with unsieved slip, and it worked quite well.  I too am going to buy some more.

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Here is a handy holder for 5 x 30 mL syringes. It is made from one of the larger size clear plastic containers that my wife gets when she buys food from bulk bins. I just use an X-Acto knife to cut five holes in the bottom. Inside I put an old damp sponge  on top of the lid. This keeps the tips from drying out between uses so I can leave the syringes full for long periods of time. It also helps me keep my pigsty a little bit organized. 

 

Sorry about the picture being on its side. It seemed to not matter how I rotate the original, this forum software puts it on its side

post-6406-0-68892900-1475112542_thumb.jpg

post-6406-0-68892900-1475112542_thumb.jpg

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Can anyone suggest specific gravity of the slip to be able to draw with it? I am planning to mix water and store bought powder to make my slip. Thanks a lot in advance! Yegana www.silkyshapes.com.au

 

Yegana, I just mix my own slip to the consistency of sour cream. If I like the line it makes when it comes out of the squeeze bottle, it's just right. If it flattens too much, I add more clay. If it's too thick and hard to squeeze, I add more water. After making slip a few times I can tell by looking at it and dipping one finger in it if it's the right consistency for me. 

 

Here is an album that includes some slip trailed work before it's fired and glazed, so you can see the kind of distinct line I'm talking about: http://community.ceramicartsdaily.org/gallery/album/924-work-in-progress/

 

 

Here are some finished items I slip trailed. I like the slip to be as thick as possible. 

 

med_gallery_67168_1162_3121861.jpg

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giselle,  you are the master of slip working.  i just discovered all those lovely things you have been doing this year.  wish i knew how to make the gallery section of this website work.  it is frustrating to have the same things come up when accessing the gallery.  once i find someone's work that i want to see more of, each picture has to be seen, enlarged, read and then another picture can be seen, enlarged, read and then another...........

 

what is the secret to seeing all your pieces one after another without all that work on my part?  the arrows do not work the way they do elsewhere.  i cannot make them go beyond one choice.   wish i could figure it out.  

 

your pieces are all so interesting because of your vision of the finished work.  i love them all but cannot find the finished, glazed pieces to complete the idea.

 

did guinea ever get her pig???? :wub:

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giselle,  you are the master of slip working.  i just discovered all those lovely things you have been doing this year.  wish i knew how to make the gallery section of this website work.  it is frustrating to have the same things come up when accessing the gallery.  once i find someone's work that i want to see more of, each picture has to be seen, enlarged, read and then another picture can be seen, enlarged, read and then another...........

 

what is the secret to seeing all your pieces one after another without all that work on my part?  the arrows do not work the way they do elsewhere.  i cannot make them go beyond one choice.   wish i could figure it out.  

 

your pieces are all so interesting because of your vision of the finished work.  i love them all but cannot find the finished, glazed pieces to complete the idea.

 

did guinea ever get her pig???? :wub:

 

Old Lady, I wrote an instruction for viewing the gallery, it's in the education thread............. WHAT...... IT will only let me search from October 2015 onwards...................GRRRRRRRR........Watch this space, I WILL NOT be defeated.

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