Any ideas on how to make this work better?

[Naaie]

Hello potters!

So I was asked to make mugs and plates for a friend. He wanted their family emblem on them so I had a stamp made to imprint the clay.

Looks nice, but I fond we don't see the emblem enough... the glaze is too thick in some areas, and a little hard to control...

Any tricks and tips or just a completely different other way to achieve this?

 

Here are pics of the results. Any idea welcomme, I still have 6 sets of mugs and plates to do!

[Babs]

Put a resist on the emblem so glaze doesn't cover it. Or carefully wipe glaze  off after glazing.

Or get an on glaze decal made up.

Good luck.

[neilestrick]

I think it's just not the right glaze for that situation. You either need to do a wipeback to expose the texture better, or use a glaze that is more fluid/breaks better. I'm also not a big fan of having texture like that on the eating surface. It's going to be difficult to clean unless it fills completely with glaze.

[Kelly in AK]

If that’s the glaze, then wiping across the emblem with a sponge may do it. I’m with @neilestrick on stamped food surfaces. Do it on the bottom or find a glaze that fills it and still shows the details. I like that stamp. 

Nice looking work! 

[Callie Beller Diesel]

Another trick is to blow sharply onto the fluid glaze immediately after dipping. You’ll get some glaze in the imprint, but not so much the letters get filled in. I’d show a picture of the results, but I do this on my swear word mugs. 

[Bam2015]

It is a very nice emblem.

Ditto on putting the emblem on a food surface, hard to clean. Have you considered a stencil or silk screen instead? You could use underglaze or mason stain mixed with CMC. 

Betty

[oldlady]

the outside of a mug is not a food contact area but the lip is.   the lip needs glaze.   once that is taken care of, wiping off the disc so it has glaze only in the texture should do it.

[baetheus]

In addition to wiping you can also spot saturate with some water by either pre-dipping in water or dabbing with a soaked shaped sponge. I teach it to my students when they don't want to wax the bottoms of their pots.

1. Apply water to areas of pot you want to be less glazed.
2. Apply glaze as normal.
3. Give a little shake, blow on the less glazed spots, or dab with a sponge.

[Pres]

Try staining the emblem, wiping off high area. . .  . . do not wipe off the rest of the pot, but make certain has been dampened before the staining and wipe. Then glaze. The additional water in the emblem should cut the absorption of the glaze to some degree allowing the stain to show through revealing the emblem.

 

best,

Pres

[Jeff Longtin]

If you do a search on the term, "death wish coffee mug" you'll see a hand thrown mug with a simple medallion. One thing you'll notice is that it has a border. The border is nice because it defines the image. You'll also notice that the image is all raised. The letters are raised and the artwork is raised. The background, however, is recessed. Thats nice because it simplifies the finishing process. After glazing, the high points of the medallion are cleaned, with a sponge, such that the white clay contrasts with the dark glaze. It means that some areas of the medallion are unglazed but it gives the best contrast.

Creating a medallion that communicates a specific image is not easy. It takes practice to understand how the process, assembly/glazing, affects the end result. A little experimentation might give you a better idea how your process will affect your results.