Tell Me How To Brush Glaze

[docweathers]

I've consistently had poor luck getting brushed glazed to look good. I've tried adding CMC & glycerin, brushing a couple light coats 90 degrees from one another. I even added a couple of voodoo dances with loud growling and grunting.     Nothing seems to make all that much difference.

 

It possible because I've seen work that has been glazed by brushing and looks perfect.

 

Let me in on the secret

[Magnolia Mud Research]

I try to avoid brushing glaze on bisque ware.  The bisque sucks the slurry out of the brush and turns the glaze into a solid bump faster than I can move the brush over the surface.
  
Prewetting the bisque with either a sponge or a mop brush seems to help.
 
A brush that holds a LOT of slurry seems to work better than a stiff brush. 
 
Practice, practice, practice.
 
LT

[LeeU]

I have found that applying commercial glazes with a brush is harder than applying by spray or dipping, and harder than with working with studio-made formulations. Generally, if I want smooth opague coverage I check the recommendations on the mfgr's site, call with questions, read the jar, and pray. Most of the time three decent coats, applied in different directions--unless I'm going for a different look--have worked really well. I guess it is a combo of practice, the nature of the glaze, and maybe a tidge of serendipity.

[glazenerd]

 

Use the right brush to start with. This one is for coating: loads heavy, lays down thin. Then use smaller brushes to detail.

Not uncommon for me to dunk the whole bisq piece into clean water before I glaze. However, drying time goes way up. I also have been using a glaze additive of 50% NZ kaolin and L10 bentonite: helps with flow and glaze hardener. Glazes with high sodium and magnesium tend to be chalky anyway.  Crystalline glaze is more flaky than granny's biscuits to begin with.  Nerd

[Pres]

Doc,

You do not brush on a glaze. You have to flow the glaze on to the pot. It is much different than painting a wall, or a piece of paper. The bisque fired clay in itself absorbs quite quickly the glaze, so a brush stroke has a very short duration. Some ways to help you have already tried. However, have you washed the pot with a damp sponge first.  . . . thus putting some moisture into the dry surface? Do you use a large soft brush to gather a lot of glaze to flow onto the pot? Do you brush in one direction, not trying to get the most out of the glaze. Do you apply three brushed coats to the surface? (One dipped coat usually is equal to 3 brushed coats.) Do you try to glaze the entire surface as a whole, not fussing with one area or another. Do you start the second coat in an area that looks thinner than most of the first, and the third coat in an area thinner than most of the second? 

 

These are all things that will help in practice, but now you need the skill of knowing when the brush is no longer flowing on the glaze, how much pressure to use, when to reload the brush, and what to look for in streaks that will effect the fired result.

 

best,

Pres

[docweathers]

Thanks for the excellent suggestions. I will give them a try.

 

I really don't like brushing glaze at all, but sometimes the design just does not allow spraying.

[Marko]

I wet the pot first with a floppy brush. I also use the brush glazenerd is recommending. Then if the glaze is drying to fast, I dip my brush in water and brush it on just before adding more glaze. After I finish my 2 to 3 coats (depend on the glaze look I want) I go over the glaze with another round of water to smooth out the glaze. You might also find a video in CAD archive. Best wishes.

[rakukuku]

I do a fair amount of applying glaze with a brush and have mixed results. Like you, its because of detail that I can't spray or dip. Though I do use underglazes often and dip in clear.

 

I think my poor results are due to not having enough glaze. Have to apply more than one and going in a different direction helps.

 

There are tile makers at our studio that get exquisite results and they use tube liners. They have sets of them with about 20 different glazes. Always having to clean out the tips after each use. They also have much steadier hands than me. 

 

As a student I was taught to dampen the pot slightly before glazing. But here in the damp northwest few do that. 

 

Also, to avoid shelf accidents, I brush things heavier on the upper parts of the piece because I am looking for the blended painterly look but not on the shelves. 

 

Make sure you have a good variety of brushes.  GL.   

[irenepots]

If you're using commercial glazes, you might want to try Amaco Potters Choice.   With soft fan brushes, specifically those blue ones that are model 835 and come in different sizes,  (I forget the brand name), I get consistently smooth coverage.  They move the glaze nicely and also clean up fast.   

 

Good luck!

[Guest]

I've been wetting my pots (spray bottle) and using fan brushes to brush flow the glaze on but I wonder if adding Darvan to the commercial glazes would help it flow any better?

 

Has anybody tried this?

[preeta]

the only glaze i have brushed on is Stroke and Coat and it seems to be very forgiving as long as i didnt dilute it too much.

 

when you brush on is there still a difference between transparent and opaque (which seems to be more forgiving)? esp. when using glazes meant for pouring. i am assuming the 'thickness' SG is different from pouring and brushing on glazes as i find most bottled glazes are so much thicker than the pouring glazes our school makes. 

 

if i remember right darvan attaches itself to clay particles. therefore i would assume it would work better on glazes with more clay. 

[firenflux]

I brush my glazes on almost exclusively since I hate wax resist and I have lots of detailed areas. I'm pretty much adding my agreement to what's been said. I use lots of fan brushes and flow the glaze on. The 1st coat is the hardest with each successive coat getting easier. You get to know what each glaze wants. Some of them want 3 coats, some 4. With some I have to wait longer between coats, or load the brush more frequently. I use the wetness of the glaze on the piece as an indicator of where I started the coat. When I've worked all the way around I can see where the wetter areas are starting. For bigger pieces I look for a landmark on the piece, like a detail on the foot that I can clearly reference in relation to my starting point. If that's not possible, I will leave an unglazed strip, then paint that last. I've never had issues with being able to see that in the finished piece.

[S. Dean]

Hake brushes are great for brushing on glazes.  There are lots of versions of hake brushes, but I'm partial to the wide multi-stem versions for this job.  You can really load these brushes up with a lot of glaze and that allows you to keep that "wet edge" that's been referred to above.  Just keep reloading the brush with glaze so you are not dragging.

 

I find that three coats work well with my glazes  - brush the first coat in one direction, wait a bit for the glaze to set up and then brush the second coat at 90 degrees to the first coat, and wait a bit before brushing on the 3rd coat at a 45 degree angle to the 2nd coat.  For me, I'm able to get a more consistent and even coats than I do with dipping, although YMMV.  One thing to watch out for is that you are not taking glaze off of edges/rims.  If that happens, you need to let that area dry and then come back to it later.

 

-SD

[docweathers]

I only brush glazes on when the shape or pattern that I want is too complex for spraying. Since I originally posted this thread I have found that those little fan makeup brushes are wonderful for spreading smooth even glaze. I think this is a suggestion that one of you folks made, thanks