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Wax resist/ water etching, and signatures


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I have stopped signing my work for a variety of reasons. I am considering using wax resist for signature and using water etching to bring it out.  Due to the nature of wax, I have had difficulty with being able to use a brush more than once. Does anybody have techniques to preserve their brushes for wax? Is it a lofty goal to expect wax to be used for writing without having to burn through 200 brushes per year? I would love more ideas on how to achieve this. 

Thanks!

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Hi Rebekah,

The type/brand of wax might matter - I'm using an emulsion type that Aardvark Clay sells. I have two brushes devoted to waxing. During a session, I'll put the brush in water between uses (so the wax doesn't congeal), and at conclusion of session, wash out with soap (Dawn or some other good grease cutter) and hot water. A toothbrush or small wire brush helps in the cleaning, and combing out the filaments as well. Reset the brush whilst wet so it's all straight for next time. There's some wax in the heel of the brushes - just about impossible to get all that out - hence I'm not using anything expensive for waxing.

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+1 for soaping the brush before using wax resist. Dampen the brush and work some dish soap or hand soap  thoroughly into the bristles, right down to the ferrule. Try not to get it too wet or bubbly, or it's hard to point the brush. Even the crusty gross wax resist rinses nicely. I've  been using the same artificial sable brush for wax and other things for about 8 years now.

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6 hours ago, Hulk said:

btw, Leach credits his source for that/similar translation: "...a more or less condensed and paraphrased extract from an essay on popular, or folk, arts and crafts by Soetsu Yanagi…"

Way too cryptic Hulk:-) can you expand this for old woman here.

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17 hours ago, Callie Beller Diesel said:

+1 for soaping the brush before using wax resist. Dampen the brush and work some dish soap or hand soap  thoroughly into the bristles, right down to the ferrule. Try not to get it too wet or bubbly, or it's hard to point the brush. Even the crusty gross wax resist rinses nicely. I've  been using the same artificial sable brush for wax and other things for about 8 years now.

Yep, it's a requirement, when having students use resist, if I don't want to continually buy  new brushes.  This is doubly true, with latex resist!

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17 hours ago, Babs said:

Way too cryptic Hulk:-) can you expand this for old woman here.

Hi Babs!

Rebekah Krieger's quotation (at the bottom of the post) attributed to Bernard Leach - I was curious, did Leach actually commit the its error*?

Looks like Leach credits Soetsu Yanagi for the thought (emphasis added) in A Potter's Book:

"I cannot do better than give a more or less condensed and paraphrased extract from an essay on popular, or folk, arts and crafts by Soetsu Yanagi, the intellectual leader of the Japanese craft movement of to-day: ‘I have many occasions to call at the residences of well- known art collectors, but I find too often that the articles of everyday use in their homes are far from being artistic, to say the least. They often leave me with a sad suspicion as to how much these collectors really appreciate beauty. To me the greatest thing is to live beauty in our daily life and to crowd every moment with things of beauty. It is then, and then only, that the art of the people as a whole is endowed with its richest significance. For its products are those made by a great many craftsmen for the mass; of the people, and the moment this art declines the life of the nation is removed far away from beauty. So long as beauty abides in only a few articles created by a few geniuses, the Kingdom of Beauty is nowhere near realization.' "

 

* its error

The contraction it's stands in for it is

The word its means belonging to it

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5 hours ago, Hulk said:

Hi Babs!

Rebekah Krieger's quotation (at the bottom of the post) attributed to Bernard Leach - I was curious, did Leach actually commit the its error*?

Looks like Leach credits Soetsu Yanagi for the thought (emphasis added) in A Potter's Book:

"I cannot do better than give a more or less condensed and paraphrased extract from an essay on popular, or folk, arts and crafts by Soetsu Yanagi, the intellectual leader of the Japanese craft movement of to-day: ‘I have many occasions to call at the residences of well- known art collectors, but I find too often that the articles of everyday use in their homes are far from being artistic, to say the least. They often leave me with a sad suspicion as to how much these collectors really appreciate beauty. To me the greatest thing is to live beauty in our daily life and to crowd every moment with things of beauty. It is then, and then only, that the art of the people as a whole is endowed with its richest significance. For its products are those made by a great many craftsmen for the mass; of the people, and the moment this art declines the life of the nation is removed far away from beauty. So long as beauty abides in only a few articles created by a few geniuses, the Kingdom of Beauty is nowhere near realization.' "

 

* its error

The contraction it's stands in for it is

The word its means belonging to it

Thanks Hulk and indeed an observation worth noting...

Respect for self, respect for object ,respect for maker ,respec  for clay, respect for the environment from which it came and so on.

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Used to dip the bottom of pots in wax when bone dry in the day, then scratch through the wax with a stylus to expose the bare clay, then use a sponge to water etch the surface. Negative, not raised, but still worked. Don't mess with it anymore.

 

best,

Pres

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5 hours ago, Pres said:

Used to dip the bottom of pots in wax when bone dry in the day, then scratch through the wax with a stylus to expose the bare clay, then use a sponge to water etch the surface. Negative, not raised, but still worked. Don't mess with it anymore.

 

best,

Pres

When time moved at a slower pace:-)

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  • 3 months later...
On 10/17/2019 at 4:34 PM, neilestrick said:

I put down a layer of wax, scratch my initials through the wax with a needle tool, fill them in with underglaze, and wipe off the excess.

I looked at ceramic supply’s website and don’t see any wax resist. Amazon has a product called ceramic supply wax resist. Is that the one you recommend?

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Some say Forbes is very good; here's a link:

https://www.highwaterclays.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_ID=129

I'm still using wax product Aardvark sells; I like it ok. That said, I initial with a small stylus, fill the letters with contrasting glaze or underglaze, then wipe away the excess with a small sponge - no wax required. 

 

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  • 1 month later...

@neilestrick, I am having trouble with my wax when I attempt to sign like that. The wax chips when I write my name, and signature is a mess. Perhaps because my wax is old. Or maybe I need to use the melting kind rather than the jarred liquid wax? 

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2 minutes ago, Karen B said:

@neilestrick, I am having trouble with my wax when I attempt to sign like that. The wax chips when I write my name, and signature is a mess. Perhaps because my wax is old. Or maybe I need to use the melting kind rather than the jarred liquid wax? 

Either your clay is chipping because it's too dry, or the wax is chipping because it's too dry. Do it at leather hard, and scratch your name as soon as the wax has set.

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