Underglaze Second Guesses

[Pugaboo]

Okay I'll say up front I am a newbie very much so. I started working on a platter today and tried a stencilling technique with underglazes that I thought would look neat but now sitting here at night I am second guessing my decision. The technique looked neat using regular paint at home but when I got to class and tried it the underglazes just didn't transfer the same way. Unfortunately the piece has already been put in the kiln for bisque firing so there's no trying to scrape it off. Soooo what are my options if it comes out of the kiln and I hate it even more? IS it possible to sand off bisque fired underglaze? Can I paint over underglazes with something else? If so what? Will another layer of an underglaze cover the ones I don't like? Or will a regular glaze of some kind? Not sure what my options are if any. It is a little loafers stoneware platter that has only been painted (maybe I should say abused) with pastel toned underglazes and bisque fired. I'd add pictures but I didn't think to take any today at class ( I should probably be glad I didn't!).

 

Any helpful suggestions would be appreciated. I have until Tuesday to come up with a game plan since thats when I go to class next and get to see what it looks like after firing.

 

Note to self: underglazes and acrylic paints do NOT react the same way.

 

Second note to self: make up test tiles to try these techniques out on first!

 

Terry

[Benzine]

You could just glaze right over it. However, if you still want something similar to the details, you are going for, you should be able to cover/ alter what you've done already with more underglaze.

 

Yeah, underglazes don't act, exactly like paints, and glazes really don't act like paint. Underglazes have more of a paint quality, in fact, you can buy underglazes, in what look like, watercolor cake sets.

[Pugaboo]

Okay so it sounds like I can apply some additional underglazes over the top of the ones I have already applied if I don't like the way they come out of the kiln. I only did 1 layer of color (I've read for good solid colored coverage you need 2 or even 3 layers) though there will be some overlapping going on of the different shades of pastel. I was going for a lacey Monet field of flowers kind of thing with a lace doily stencil cut into pieces. I hope the colors lighten and kind of melt into the clay but not sure if that will happen or not. If not maybe a wash of white over the colors to fade them somewhat would work? Or if its too ugly I'll have to come up with a color that will cover the whole lot and do just a single flat color. I guess if its truly horrible I'll just use it in the studio to store my jars of underglaze in it! Lesson learned, look at tray of underglaze jars, now do a test tile first!

 

Oh did I remember to mention this is my first attempt at using underglazes?

[bciskepottery]

For your test tiles, do three bars . . . a one-stroke bar, a two-stroke bar, and a three-stroke bar. That will show you changes in coverage. Also, allow the coats to dry between . . . otherwise you are just moving around the same underglaze. Cover the top part of the tile in clear glaze . . . that will show you how the finished product will look.

 

The consistency of the underglaze in a jar will vary . . . you may need to add some water or glycerine/mineral oil to make the underglaze flow more smoothly.

 

A good black glaze can fix a lot of problems.

[neilestrick]

You can apply more underglaze, or layer a couple of opaque glazes to cover up the stuff you already did.