Do I have to under glaze?

[Barbsbus 4 fun]

I am going to be making some gnome like creatures for my flower beds.  I will be using some red clay cone 6.

[Barbsbus 4 fun]

I some how did something wrong about the title.....  What I wanted to ask should I under glace these yard art creatures?

[Bill Kielb]

It is generally a look, preference,  or way to decorate. Various color underglazes are generally used to paint or stencil a design and then often clear glazed over to provide the protection of traditional glaze.

In the picture below the underglaze is the painted feather and the rest of the bowl is glazed over with a clear glaze on the inside and colored glaze on the outside to protect and make this bowl useable for food etc... The clay is white porcelain BTW. For yard creatures you might want to accent and decorate with various colors and likely clear glaze to protect the creatures from the weather.

Sculptors often underglaze only and do not overglaze because it is a look and satin texture they seek. Without traditional glaze  though the item  is less protected and generally not suitable for food use.

The bowl below is tightly glazed to protect it, make smooth and be waterproof. The perfume bottle below it has a design stenciled in underglaze and could be  glazed over or left in a rougher form  with  only the stenciled colored underglaze as it’s only a decorated surface and artistically can be any texture  the artist desires. This bottle is glazed over BTW with clear glaze. Some folks describe underglaze as ceramic ink or ceramic paint for decoration which often has a traditional glaze over it for protection. Traditional glazes generally form a smooth protective “glass” surface that can be clear or colored.

hope that helps a bit

[JohnnyK]

Let's assume that you are going to fire the gnomes to cone 6 after under glazing. Another way you can go is with clear exterior acrylic spray... this fountain  has been Raku fired with a Raku glaze and since it was going to be used outdoors, my Raku class professor, after I told her what I was going to do, thought it would be interesting to see the outcome since she hadn't seen it done before. I sprayed the fountain with 3 coats of clear acrylic and set it out. It has been in place and used for the last 3 year sand is holding up quite well.

[neilestrick]

Underglazes are a great thing to use if you want to work on the surface like painting. Underglazes come in the bottle the same color they'll be after firing, and they don't run.  So if you want to paint imagery or patterns or just work in multiple colors without them running or bleeding, they're the way to go. They would be great for putting color on creatures or figures. The you put a clear glaze over them to seal them up and make them food safe and/or water tight.

[Mark C.]

I did a quick poll of  gnomes and 85% said they like underglaze.5% where undecided and 10% said no they did not want underglaze .

Plus or minus 3% error in poll

[Babs]

"A poll of Gnomes"

A liability of potters?

A silliness of ceramists?

A majority of mugs??