Clear Glaze on Bottom of piece

[Pots and Peaces]

Hi! Can i put a clear coat of glaze on the bottom of my pieces? I have a customer who would like the mugs I am making to have more of a shiny smooth feel, so I was thinking I could use underglaze on the bottom. Am I able to put a clear glaze on the bottom of my piece? 

[liambesaw]

Not without stilting it.  Even then I don't suggest it.  You can order some progressively finer diamond disks from somewhere like Amazon and just polish the bottoms with those.  It makes a smooth shiny surface.

[Bill Kielb]

1 hour ago, Pots and Peaces said:

Hi! Can i put a clear coat of glaze on the bottom of my pieces? I have a customer who would like the mugs I am making to have more of a shiny smooth feel, so I was thinking I could use underglaze on the bottom. Am I able to put a clear glaze on the bottom of my piece? 

If the mugs have a foot ring then by all means many folks glaze the inside or the foot.  The very bottom of the foot will need to remain unglazed  though. Liam is spot on with diamond pads. A super easy one that I have used  is a fine diamond pad that comes glued to a batt. Throw it on the wheel, a tiny bit of water and you can make any foot smooth as glass and very flat with 30 seconds of grinding. Easy to do a whole set within minutes perfectly flat and smooth.

Quick pic of glazed inside foot ring example below

[Pres]

Often however, even with the foot ring situation you should realize that often the bottom may need to be ground as sometimes you will have some glaze sticking no matter how careful you are.

 

best,

Pres

[Bam2015]

Hi All,

Does anyone have a pic of a mug or pot that has been smoothed out, or shined up with a diamond pad? 

Thank you,

Betty

[Hulk]

Bill's pic, above

Here's a red clay pot that's been polished. The pot's interior is poured in and out, the outside is dipped, the foot ring interior is brushed (however, want to try using an ear bulb to put just enough to cover, as Hsin-Chuen Lin demos in his videos...). I'm looking to make the part that touches the table smooth, so it doesn't catch or scratch, and also put a small radius on the outside edge - a polished corner is too sharp, imo. You can see where the glaze ends on the inside part of the foot ring - the outside of the foot ring is bare clay all the way to the corner where the wall starts.

Doesn't take long - keep it wet, keep it moving, tip up and round off the corner last.

I'd recommend the larger discs and medium grit, perhaps 600, which may be "too smooth" but still cuts fast enough. I bought a six inch 1200 grit, which is a bit slow - the disc was cheap. Next one bigger, courser.

The medium moves faster - at the outside edge - on a bigger disc. Also there's more material to wear out - lasts longer.

[Callie Beller Diesel]

The finished product will depend on your clay. Especially  if you’re using anything not white, or if there’s grog or other inclusions. Any clay can get pleasantly soft and smooth feeling if you polish it up enough. 

[neilestrick]

Burnishing the foot with a hard rubber rib after trimming will make it easier to get it really smooth after firing.