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I am asking for suggestions for matte white underglazes or engobes. I would also consider making my own engobe out of my white stoneware clay body but I don't know how. I've never done that. I need it to be able to be painted on bisque ware under my Clear Bright from Laguna. I have tried: - Duncan Concepts white underglaze. It flares up and comes through the clear glaze. Yuck. That's not going to work. - Dune White engobe from Laguna. If applied too thickly it forms micro cracks along the edges. Since this is filling in carving .... I thought I would try Amaco's Velvet White but it says it is only food safe if I use it with their clear. I have extensively experimented with the Clear Bright and my clay bodies and I am not willing to change it. I have been making a series of highly decorated pie plates with carving and slip inlay. I paint wax on a leather-hard piece and then carve through to the clay, then paint it with white stoneware slip. The problem I am having is that the two most recent pieces I've made this way have been horribly pitted, tiny air bubbles formed when I painted on the slip and they did not show up until after it was fired. I thought I had them filled with the glaze but after glaze firing about 20 pits were still open, making a high-investment piece completely unusable. I want to try just carving it plain and painting on/wiping off an underglaze or engobe after it is bisque fired. This is not the item with the issues, this is another one that I made with the same technique.

I started pottery a bit over a year ago and recently begun exploring decorative techniques. I tried some underglaze inlay on a greenware piece, carving out decorative lines on a small waxed porcelain cup, then painting the whole thing with blue underglaze, and wiping off the excess underglaze. I bisque fired the piece, then dipped it in transparent glaze and fired it again. The final cup has streaky underglaze, I don't understand why since the underglaze was bisque fired before I applied the final glaze? (I'll attach a picture, please note it's just a test piece I do notice however that the streaking seems to occur on those lines that were less deep (the straight lines were carved a bit deeper into the clay, might that be the solution? - I thought mishima could be fairly superficial, am I wrong?) Should I try to sponge on the clear glaze instead of dipping? Also, I find that dipping gives me a bit of a thick final transparent coating, could I try and brush it on in order to obtain a thinner coating or am I just setting myself up for a huge mess? I'd very much appreciate some experienced insight on this! Many Thanks in advance! SaveSave

Kevin Snipes Workshop Heck Yeah: Creativity and Clay WS04 – Saturday & Sunday, 10-4pm, May 14 & 15 2016 Fee: $200 member/$225 non-member Artist Talk: Saturday May 14 at 6pm. Free and open to the public. Heck Yeah! - Creativity and Clay. Come explore the right side of your brain with Kevin Snipes and clay. Stretch, poke, prod, shape, squish and draw out those ideas! Working with both 2 and 3-D materials, he will help you unleash the hidden images and talents buried in your psyche. Engage in fun ways to invigorate your imagination with drawing, painting, collage and sculpting. Brainstorming with paper and pencil can lead to unexpected twists and turns that can be transferred to your ceramic art. Ceramic surface techniques and creating forms will be explored. This is open to all skill levels and artists from a variety of media. Kevin Snipes was born in Philadelphia, but grew up mostly in Cleveland, Ohio. He received a B.F.A. in ceramics and drawing from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1994. After leaving grad school at the University of Florida in 2003 Kevin has led a seemingly nomadic artistic life, constantly making making no matter where he is. Kevin has participated in several artist residency programs, including the Clay Studio, in Philadelphia and Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts, in New Castle, Maine and received a Taunt Fellowship from the Archie Bray Foundation in Montana 2008. Exhibiting both nationally and internationally, including a recent solo exhibition at the Society of Arts and Craft, Boston; Akar, Iowa City and Duane Reed Gallery in St. Louis. Kevin has exhibited as far away as Jingdezhen, China. Kevin combines his love of constructing unconventional pottery with an obsessive need to draw on everything that he produces, creating a uniquely dynamic body of work. www.Kevinsnipes.com Contact Mary Cloonan at mary.cloonan@baltimoreclayworks.org for more information. Baltimore Clayworks 5707 Smith Avenue Baltimore, MD 21209 www.baltimoreclayworks.org