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Greetings! I'm a fairly novice potter who has made figurative pottery with some functionality using Amaco Low Fire White, which fires to 04. These are mostly ring dishes and candle holders. I've recently been looking to make food safe pottery such as plates, teapots, and pie plates, but have been given conflicting reports on how to make them fully food safe. I know that low fire clay is somewhat porous, but would a good quality glaze make them 100% food safe? I also have heard that pie plates and other bakeware may be prone to thermal shock if just stuck into a hot oven, and then contradicting information that well glazed, low fire pots tend to have less of this issue than say, stoneware. I'm not sure, and would love any insight! Thank you!

At home I use only commercial glazes in liquid form (typically Amaco but sometimes Laguna) marked non-toxic and food safe, and I brush them on, 3 coats as indicated, then taking them to a kiln at a place whose firing staff I respect. My glazes are marked for cone 5 and pieces always fired at cone 5 as part of a large load of various people's work. I believe I have read here that it may not actually be prudent, even in these circumstances, to use a red glaze on an eating surface. Have I misunderstood? As a related question, what about a red underglaze, similarly marked, with three coats of clear over it? Thank you for clarifying.

Hello there, Im not a ceramicist (Im learning little bits here, doing workshops there...), Im an illustrative designer, but I would like to create decals of my designs and put them onto dinnerware. I was hoping someone out there could give me a bit of information....I have a few questions. First: I would like my designs to be transfered onto stoneware or porcelain. As far as I can tell there is no issue with that? My designs have very fine line detail, so I feel that an onglaze digital decal (as opposed to a tissue transfer, or screenprint) would probably ensure a sharp image. However, these decals can often look raised or "stuck on"...Im trying to avoid that. I have seen coloured digital decals that dont have that raised effect...so how is that achieved? Do they apply the digital decal on bisque....then fire, then clear glaze, then fire again? Or can you apply the decal, just wait for it to dry then glaze and fire? would that affect the vibrancy of the colours printed, as I understand with digital systems you can have the whole cmyk gamut? I understand there is an entire science behind the make up of clay, glazes and firing. If I wanted to apply a digital decal to bisqued stoneware for example, would it have to be a decal especially for stoneware? Additionally, I was interested to know how difficult/easy it may be applying a seamless design to the inside of a bowl or curved surface? I imagine that you would have to follow maybe a cone shaped template, so it can be applied? Second: Being dinnerware, I would like the decals to be food safe. Even if the decal manufacturer claims it is food safe, are there other factors that could cause problems? for example the type of kiln you use, or other things that may be in the kiln while your firing? Is it expensive to test? Lastly, and thank you so much for you time, As far as producing my dinnerware, I have found plenty of businesses that will custom make digital decals. but Im finding it difficult to find any that will make AND apply the decal to your piece...even though I know they are out there. Iam in Australia, which doesnt host such industry, but if anyone has any leads on any smaller run manufacturers or business (closer to me the better, naturally) That would be appreciated... maybe also because Im new at this, Im not quite sure how to search for this type of business, so any resources or "buzz words" that might help me would be great. Any info at all would be appreciated and helpful. Thanks a lot. J.