Glazing Techniques

While I was glazing I thought I'd take a few photos to share with you some of the techniques I use in my glazing. For those of you who aren't potters, the glaze color isn't necessarily the color the pieces will be after firing. I just finished up a two day marathon glazing and started the kiln. I had to hurry because I have a small window of opportunity between storms. With Isaac looming in the distance I didn't have any time to waste.

I decided not to use wax resist on the birds because I was afraid I'd drop some on the pot below, which would resist the glaze. I poured glaze on the interior and let it run out on the opposite side of the birds. This worked quite well. After glazing these handled baskets I carefully hand brushed a different glaze on the birds with a very small brush and used an even smaller brush for their eyes. At one point Gary came in the garage and said I needed to put some bird droppings on the pots. Gary has a strange sense of humor.

I had two sculptural pieces with narrow openings at the top and not enough room to pour the glaze inside without it splattering all over the place. I do have a small funnel somewhere but couldn't find it. So I made a funnel out of slick paper and inserted it through the narrow opening and poured the glaze in, then I removed the paper funnel, rotated the piece around to coat the inside, then poured the remaining glaze out. That worked quite well.

I had several sculptural pieces with windows or openings in this kiln load. For those I used the technique Judy Shreve told me about. I took moist clay, wet it on one side and stuck the clay to the outside, pressing firmly around the edges and covering all the openings.

This is what it looks like after attaching the temporary moist clay coverings for the openings. I kind of like the look of those patches, like an animal pattern. The lumpiness of it appeals to me. I might have to make a piece like that. Next I poured the glaze inside, rotated it around, and poured it out.

Then I removed the temporary moist clay coverings from the openings. Next I wiped the outside of the piece to remove any moist clay and hand brushed the exterior with glaze. Hopefully the weather will hold for half a day till the glaze load is fired. Almost up to temperature now, then a slow cool down. Stay tuned to see these pieces and others after they're fired. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.