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Cleaning glaze off bisqued ware?


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I screwed up the glaze on my big bowls and need to start over, but the previous attempts at the studio yielded poor results after re-glazing. I had scrubbed those off with a sponge under running water, then let dry for days before dipping again.

Any tips or tricks to removing glaze and starting over after you have dipped a piece in glaze the 1st time?

 

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Agreed that the bisque was probably still damp, then.

If you're pressed for time, or the atmosphere is just not cooperating, you could try putting the washed piece in a "dead" oven (one that's been turned off after being heated up and used), or just on the plate warmer setting for a few hours.  I've heard of people using their barbecues, but I don't have any direct experience with that one. 

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I very rarely wash glaze off a piece. My shop sink has a 6 inch silicone rubber hose on end  hanging down which I squeeze to get a strong stream of water and I blast off the glaze. Then I put piece up in heated shop for a day-for get about that day-(or in summer out in sun) fill kiln with other things-glaze that piece the next day or later in week.If its a small piece the heat can dry it that day but it has to be thin.

Welcome to the school of hard knocks-its where we learn the most from our mistakes in ceramics-its a life long collage of sorts-everyone  gets in for free and its just a matter of time before you start learning hard lessons

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the lowest temp on my household oven is 170 degrees f.   i turn it on after putting work inside and turn it off after 10 minutes.   my work is thinner than yours so it might take several cycles of 10 minute heat then leave it for half an hour or so.  and repeat.

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"Welcome to the school of hard knocks-its where we learn the most from our mistakes in ceramics-its a life long collage of sorts-everyone  gets in for free and its just a matter of time before you start learning hard lessons"

Mistakes -> learnin', in Hotel California, yep on that.

:P

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Have never had any luck washing off glazes. Have had some interesting effects from trying (some very cool and some not so much). I have surmised that bisque ware is porous and soaks in glaze and the residual after washing off still interacts with whatever I re-glaze with.  It's only come of a few times in a decade and the last time was a platter and I thought it was very cool and interesting, my partner not so much. 

I think we will just keep doing it like we do and see what we end up with but I think in order to really start fresh maybe you got to soak for a while or something. Maybe Marks water blasting will take care of it. I did wash the platter pretty thoroughly and it still had residual that interacted and created kind of a frost coming up through a solid glaze. 

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I've only had trouble if I tried to wash off and change glazes.  If I am glazing the inside and outside of a mug in different colors and then get a blob I don't want running out of the mug onto the outside, I will wash it off "pretty well" and reglaze with no issue.  I'm sure that varies between glazes and colorants but haven't had a problem.

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I agree that in many cases it's probably easier or less work just to make other one. If, for some reason you must try and rescue a mis-glazed piece, you might try scraping as much of the glaze as you can off the bisque first with some sort of plastic rib, like one of the yellow ones from Mud Tools. Follow up with a thorough wash. It could be that some residue remained from the previous glaze that didn't react well with the subsequent one. 

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  • 1 year later...

I wouldn't take the risk with my kiln. Bisque is still porous., so firing a washed piece the next day is way too fast for the moisture to be assuredly gone. If it explodes it can wreak all kinds of havoc. Better to dry it thoroughly for a few days-especially if the piece is not really thin--and use a preheat program before going into the glaze program. It is also possible that the new glaze will be affected from reacting to the former glaze, even if it "looks" like the old glaze it is totally gone-it's not! 

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On 8/10/2020 at 7:53 PM, liambesaw said:

Explosion is a greenware thing.

Not only greenware !!!  :lol:  It  did not happen with my bisque, but I can attest that it happened after glaze was washed off bisque & then reglazed & fired within 2 days.

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On 8/9/2020 at 12:56 PM, Mack said:

I will need to wash off a mistake from my bisqueware tomorrow AM, if I leave it outside in very hot weather will a few hours be long enough to wait then reglaze   and put in kiln that late afternoon? 

YEs it will be fine

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My biggest problem with washing glaze off, and then reglazing was that if I fired the glaze piece too soon I would end up with glaze defects like shivering where the glaze would raise from the surface, or even blistering. I have always found it best if washing and reglazing to wait an extra day before firing, especially in the hot humid summer weeks we have had here in PA, so take humidity into account. Err on the side of caution, and you will have no problems. 

 

best,

Pres

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  • 10 months later...

On a similar topic: my glaze went on way too thick. Rookie mistake. (But I was smart enough to just fire one on a waste plate and it ran like crazy). Can I sand off some glaze? Or should I wash it off and start over?

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1 hour ago, BlueSky said:

Can I sand off some glaze? Or should I wash it off and start over?

I would wash it off thoroughly. Even brush it if necessary then let it dry at least a day before reglazing. Sanding doesn't do it for me, besides creates more dust.

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