Friday 20 March 2020

Black underglaze and light blue

This is my favourite piece of bisque from the class I took in November. I’ve been hoarding it because I had no idea what I wanted to decorate it with and I really didn’t want to ruin this mug.

After the epically long time I spent with a tiny brush completing all the fine glaze detail on the mystery bisque albarello, I needed a better solution. While I was down at Potters Market I happened upon some squeeze bottles with variously sized needle bits. This is the result. The thick lines are multiple applications of the size 3 needle and the thin lines are the size 2. I think the underglaze is too runny for the size 4 needle and not runny enough for the size 1. I also suspect size 1 wouldn’t permit sufficient pigment to be applied. It may be good for fine dots though.

Generally I feel the squeeze bottle is a good idea however inconsistency in the bisque surface results in lumps and bumps in the glaze lines. I could scratch a lot back but I’m hoping a the over glaze will reduce the impact of the imperfections.

Extant jug. Sotheby’s. 

I glazed this in light blue with a clear overglaze. I twisted a finger when placing the cup on the drying rack so there are some inconsistencies along the rim where I’ve tried to repair the glaze coverage. I gotta say, I am not happy with the result.


As you can see, the fine brushwork has essentially been swamped by the glaze. Most of the detail is gone and everything has become streaky. I believe this was, in part, due to the clear cover glaze. The top rim was double dipped because of my clumsy finger damage to the original coat. This area seems to suffer most from the streaky effect.


Examination of the internal rim suggests that the light blue contributes. Note the lovely internal band where the light blue stops? It seems it already has a colour change where there is a thickness or boundary change. While I wouldn’t want to use this combination on another underglaze work, I’d love to see how this does with topographic detail. The colour somewhat reminds me of the pale Egyptian blues.

So, I don’t like this result but I’ve learned a few things. Pity I had to do my learning on a ‘good’ bisque but I guess practice will increase the number of things I consider ‘good’.


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