Matte surface with abstract painting effect

[Valeria]

Hi! I have been asked to decorate the surface of one of my hand-built moon vases with an effect similar to the picture of a painting I attached here. 

I work with stoneware, fire to cone 6/7 and mainly use glazes on bisque. 

here I am wondering what would work best: under glazes or slips?

I find that underglaze bubbles when then coated with glaze.. and also having to find a matte transparent that doesn’t go milky isn’t very easy. 

This is a pickle for me: matte finish & painted surface. 

Any knowledge sharing would be greatly appreciated 

thank you 

Valeria 

[Bill Kielb]

3 hours ago, Valeria said:

Hi! I have been asked to decorate the surface of one of my hand-built moon vases with an effect similar to the picture of a painting I attached here. 

I work with stoneware, fire to cone 6/7 and mainly use glazes on bisque. 

here I am wondering what would work best: under glazes or slips?

I find that underglaze bubbles when then coated with glaze.. and also having to find a matte transparent that doesn’t go milky isn’t very easy. 

This is a

We use underglaze. The problem with this effect is it’s likely a 100% coating and requires some mix of colors. Some underglaze  colors are more refractory than others so covering a well underglazed  area with many clear glazes can result in a rough bubbly underfired surface. When using underglazes  as thin an application of color / colors as practical is always a good thing when possible.  Matte glaze will be slightly cloudy regardless, so even the clearest matte needs to be applied as thin as practical to minimize this.

As far as a glaze, we made a formulation with a bit more boron to help melt with these solid underglaze situations. The one in this recipe https://glazy.org/recipes/19734.  is very matte as that was the intention but you should be able to just add silica and dial in your desired matte / gloss level. Anyway, no guarantees, but this has worked well for our clays and underglazes.

 

[out to sea]

I like Speedball's pink underglaze, I don't find that it bubbles like other pink's and has very little burnout. As for a clear matte, there is a recipe in Mastering Cone 6 glazes for High-Calcium Semi Matte 2. It's a semi-matte but does a nice job letting underglaze colors come through without a glossy sheen obscuring them and it's very clear.

I would also use the underglaze on leather hard work, that way it doesn't absorb as quickly and you have more time to "swirl" the paint on the surface.

Hope that helps some! Good Luck!

[Valeria]

Thank you! That’s really useful information 

I will follow your suggestion and make some tests 

 

[Callie Beller Diesel]

You might also consider layering a pink-tinted clear over your underglaze painting. It will help add visual layers. 

Bonus points if the clear you use is prone to boron clouding.