How to achieve this deep watercolor look?

[heydank]

Hello everyone,

I’ve been scouring this forum for a while, but this is my first post. Hope I’ve chosen the right sub topic. Anyway, I’m hoping someone can give me some insight into how to achieve this look.

“Alcohol ink” keeps cropping up, but that seems to be a sort of craft technique achievable only after the final glaze fire? Semi moist underglaze possibly? But I’m not sure that’ll give me the desired variability in color and depth. 

Open to any and all suggestions. Thanks in advance.

[liambesaw]

Looks like indeed they're using a straw to blow alcohol ink across the surface.

[oldlady]

could either of you define alcohol ink as used in ceramics so those of us who have not had the same wide background could understand it?  the google search i did had no info on use with making ceramics, just painting the outside with this strange stuff.  durability is not mentioned either.

[heydank]

From what I understand, it is indeed just a quick surface decoration technique, as you said. Hence why I’m looking for another way to achieve this look, preferably in the greenware stage, as I’m hoping to carve on top of it.

[liambesaw]

2 minutes ago, heydank said:

From what I understand, it is indeed just a quick surface decoration technique, as you said. Hence why I’m looking for another way to achieve this look, preferably in the greenware stage, as I’m hoping to carve on top of it

Maybe some kind of wet on wet slip casting with stained slip and white slip

[liambesaw]

8 minutes ago, oldlady said:

could either of you define alcohol ink as used in ceramics so those of us who have not had the same wide background could understand it?  the google search i did had no info on use with making ceramics, just painting the outside with this strange stuff.  durability is not mentioned either.

Alcohol ink is just alcohol based inks.  Some examples are sharpie markers, xylene based markers, etc.  

[Magnolia Mud Research]

Long ago I conducted a series of tests using water color paints on green and bisque ware to see what happens when fired.  Was interesting!  All of the “paints that contained metal based ingredients produced a color similar to the use of that metal oxide in a stain or glaze.  Using oil paints and school wax crayons also produced marks.  
 

Therefore mixing a thin mixture of the “right “ material  and brush technique one would probably get the effect you want.  Try it and see what happens.

LT

[Callie Beller Diesel]

It’s not a technique I wound up using a whole lot because it wasn’t cost effective for production work but  if you use a homemade mix of frit (any), mason stain and epk, you can make your own watercolour pucks. 1/3 each by volume works for most things, but some stains will need the flux levels adjusted down. If you work on bisque and use a wet on wet technique, you can get some interesting layers, although you won’t get that vibrant purple colour. You have to let the pot dry thoroughly before glazing though, because the bisque tends to get saturated. It works even better if you use this technique over a lightly textured slip, like in the image. 

If you wanted to add carving, you might have to carve while green, and then mask off the carved areas to do the watercolour. 

[Rae Reich]

I wonder if the cups in the original post could have been glazed and fired with a ^10 glaze and then blown on with stains in the alcohol base (with maybe a little flux) and re-fired to ^06, which would set the stains. The pretty, vibrant reds, yellows and purples would then be possible.

[GEP]

This is a guess, but to me the mugs in the photo look like mass-produced bisqueware, similar to what you get at paint-your-own pottery shops. Which means they are low-fire pots. I think this look could be achieved with an approach similar to majolica. Dip the entire pot in a smooth white glaze, then apply colors while the glaze is still slightly damp so the stains have a smooth surface to slide across. 

Here’s an article with good information about majolica, including a base glaze recipe:

https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/daily/ceramic-glaze-recipes/low-fire-glaze-recipes/messing-with-majolica-an-instructor-shares-tips-for-learning-and-teaching-the-majolica-technique/

This article says to mix stains with gerstley borate for fluxing. For the above effect I would thin out the stain mixture more, maybe even use something oily like mineral oil. Maybe place a big dot of the stain mixture on the pot, then immediately blow at it through a straw to achieve those patterns. It will probably take lots of practice to make it work.