layering of glazes, slips, stains, etc.

[docweathers]

I keep reading about potters layering various glazes, slips, oxides and stains on top of each other. I'm a little bewildered about what goes well on top of what and what does not work. Can anyone suggest any guidelines or can you suggest a book that covers this? I am firing it cone 6, both oxidation and reduction.

 

I know I can test and test and I'll have to do some of that. But, it would be nice to start out in the ballpark

[TJR]

It's easy to layer glazes if you have enough to pour onto the pot. In other words, brushing from a jar will not work. You could look at Oribe pots for a historical perspective. Contemporary potters who layer are Josh de Weese in the states and Robert Barron in Australia. I would start with a white matt glaze, then pour darker glazes on other sections. Sometimes you get the beautiful accident, sometimes it looks horrible. You just have to jump in.

TJR

[docweathers]

Thanks, that is helpful. I will look at their work

[OffCenter]

Steven Hill is famous for his layered glazes.

[GEP]

These are broad generalizations, but for starters ...

 

Slip is just a thinned out version of clay, so it needs to be bisque fired before it can be high fired (assuming you are bisqueing before glazing). It can be applied to wet, leatherhard, or dry pots. But in relation to your question, it will end up underneath any glaze. If you apply slip to an already-bisqued pot, then put the pot directly into a glaze firing, the slip is not going to fit, and will fall off in big flakes. I really enjoy brushing white slip onto leatherhard pots made of dark clay, then carving designs into the slip.

 

Oxides, stains, undeglazes, engobes are very flexible materials. They can be applied to green pots and bisque pots, under or over a glaze. Again this is generalizing, but most of the time I see potters applying these things to a bisqued pot, then adding glaze on top. This way, whatever design or effect you've created will stay where you put it. Though I've also seen someone make brushwork designs of underglaze on top of a glaze, the underglaze bled and shifted a little and the result was really pretty.

 

As for layering glazes on glazes ... my favorite way to approach this is to layer a matte or semi-matte glaze on top of a glossy glaze. This is most likely to create a "landslide" effect where the glaze runs down the pot when melted. Of course this should only be done on the insides of pots until you are very familiar with how your glazes will behave. Heck I am very familiar with my glazes, but I still only do this on the insides of pots. For me, when I see glazes that were moving in the kiln, I find that far more fascinating than colors.

 

Mea

[OffCenter]

Be careful if you layer glazes where food will touch. Some people think that if you put a "food-safe" glaze over an unstable or unsafe glaze the pot is safe for food. This is not true. If the glaze combination touches food it should be tested as a new glaze before exposing the public to what may be a pot that will leach harmful chemicals into their food or drink.

 

Jim

[yedrow]

Be careful if you layer glazes where food will touch. Some people think that if you put a "food-safe" glaze over an unstable or unsafe glaze the pot is safe for food. This is not true. If the glaze combination touches food it should be tested as a new glaze before exposing the public to what may be a pot that will leach harmful chemicals into their food or drink.

 

Jim

 

 

And therein lie the risks of layering glazes on functional pottery.

 

Joel.