Getting a clean wipe with oxide wash

[susieblue]

I have been experimenting with black iron oxide wash lately. The first time I tried it I used a cone 6 fired, unglazed clay (Miller 45 Buff) and got a nice clean wipe with the wash remaining in the crevices and achieved an even tone over the rest of the piece.  When I tried it on bisque ware (05) it was another story.  No matter how much I scrubbed I ended up with a blotchy wash on the flat surfaces.  I am wondering if there is a trick to working with washes on bisque that I am missing.  I thought about wetting the piece first and/or making the wash thinner perhaps. I don't want to have to take up precious space in a glaze firing to vitrify the pieces before I can apply the wash.  Wondering if anyone has experienced this problem and how you resolved it. 

Thank you.

[Rae Reich]

I think the porosity of your bisque is your problem. Pre-wetting might help a little. Is this on white clay?

[susieblue]

5 hours ago, Rae Reich said:

I think the porosity of your bisque is your problem. Pre-wetting might help a little. Is this on white clay?

Thanks. The clay is Miller 45 Buff. I understand that the porosity of the bisque is the issue and I am wondering how to circumvent that without having to fully vitrify the clay first.  I am going to test the wetting technique tonite but was hoping someone here might have run into this problem, or was aware of it, and had a workaround.

 

Thanks..

[clay lover]

I do this often and don't have that problem, I bisque to 04.  also might try diluting the oxide a bit.  I use underglaze for this technique