PB103 underglazes - fine detail and black oxides

This was my first experiment with firing my new underglazes at stoneware temperatures! I was running a tile test at the same time so I really really wasn't sure how these would turn out. I was on a tight timeline so I couldn't afford to wait.

This was the first large cup I ever made with PB103. I'm very happy with the shape as the lip sits comfortably in hands slightly larger than mine. The base is still a tad thick as a result of my inexperience and my desire not to end up with another basal cracking situation. This design was hand painted using green underglaze with black outlining and detail painted over it. The whole cup was then dipped in a clear coat. Note the matte base? I plonked the foot in paraffin wax prior to the clear glaze. The wax prevents the glaze from covering the base and thus stops the glaze from fusing to the kiln shelf. Unfortunately for me, the kiln shelf held some spots of iron shed from previous firings. When the kiln was loaded, the shelves weren't coating in a resist so this cup stuck to the shelf. As a result, there are a few chips in the base. This saddens me as it was intended as a gift and it is no longer perfect. On the upside, due to the thickness of the base, this cup is still viable so I'm going to gift it anyway.

The brunswick green colour came out nicely but it does emphasise how important three coats are. Each of the outer feathers received a single brushstroke of colour running from outer to inner. This meant the second and third row of feathers had the chance of double or triple colour. It provides a nice texture for the feathers as was intended but it's something to keep in mind for future decoration.

Did you know that Siren's were originally large birds with female heads? Something like a seductive version of a harpy I guess. I only found this out a few months back and I've been gleefully spreading this knowledge to as many people as I can.

My third cup in PB103 (second one will be addressed in the next post). I was so happy with this when it came out of the kiln from the bisque firing! The sides are beautifully thin because the PB103 is a bit sticky and supports its own weight really well. It's good to handle but is susceptible to becoming too squishy if too much water / slip is used. This cup is too large for my hand but will be a nice low cup for a man. Again, the base is thick, but I played around with a deliberate flare to make it easier to tie to a belt. This was made before I knew how to trim cups once they are leather hard so this was entirely done during one pass on the wheel.

This was another attempt at decorating with bunswick green and black. In this case, the black was laid down first and the green was applied later. It seems the black doesn't necessarily required two coats but it also doesn't 'come through' the over coat very strongly. This cup is a little streaky because I forgot to mix the clear glaze before applying. As a result I had to do a second dip and I think that moved some of the underglaze particles slightly resulting in the slight fuzziness to the design. Next time, unless this is an intentional feature, I must remember to mix the glaze overcoat well prior to dipping!

Over all assessment:

Black - one or two coats is sufficient. Maintains fine detail really well. Practice shading is required.
Brunswick green - one coat can end up yellowish and may provide good variation for leaves etc. Three solid coats is a good strong colour.
Clear overglaze - the steakiness of thin glaze is actually a rather pleasant effect. I think it could be used to good effect for natural scenes or perhaps humming birds.

St Florian hats

St Florian Hat 1 at Rowany Festival. Photo by Rache Vess.

Late last year I made some hats for the upcoming B&B of St Florian. The hats needed to be appropriate to their German garb and tie into the St Florian device which is a purple buttony cross on a white background.

For these hats I used a heavy black wool which was a little too stiff for a coat. Their expect-ellencies supplied me with some purple and white satin material which they were going to use on other aspects of the garb as well. I used halloween witches hats to provide rigidity to the brim.

This project suffers from the same problem my cranach hat did, where black wool is very hard to photograph well so instructions but no step by step photos are below the cut.

Ceramic 45 - Foxy drinking bowl for Brooke

 

Dish, OC.157-1946, Fitz Museum.  

I had a small palm sized bowl that I had bought to experiment with and it's been sitting on my craft desk for a while. Inspiration struck when I was pondering Pennsic and all the people I enjoy hanging out with and I realised I hadn't indulged in the tim-tam port slam recently. The tiny bowl will make the perfect port bowl and who better to make it for than Brooke? It's a pity I didn't have it ready for Great Northern War because she put a lot of work into that event. Ah well, I'll take it to Pennsic and we shall drink and make merry.

Bowl, C.53-1998, Fitz Museum.

I decided to use red again as it'll go with her other bowl. This time I did find a fox on a plate but it's on there with a mess of other animals and that would just be too busy in such a tiny bowl. I decided to make the bowl sort of Saltanabad-ish and copied the motifs on the spiky bowl below. I then painted a small Kitsune style fox in the base of the bowl for her to find once she finishes the port.

Project 34 - Krae Glas baronial birthday platter PT 4

Step 4 - Apply shading.

In step three I tried two different methods of shading. Method one mixed 50/50 yellow and black (lower belly) and method 2 diluted the black (one drop black to three drops water) and used it as a wash. Pre-firing they both looked a bit sketchy but the black wash went on smoother. Post-firing, the black wash is chunkier and doesn't present the smooth grading I need for this project.

For the final piece I decided to go with the black wash but this time I diluted it 1:5 and mixed it extremely well to ensure there were no chunks of pigment. The wash went on nicely. The shading turned out pretty well. The only thing I'd change next time would be the shading on the back of the sea-dragons. It should be horizontal not vertical allowing it to conform to the shape of the beast better.

I picked up the plate the morning of the event, and as usual, forgot to get a photo.

Project 34 - Krae Glas serving plate for Day of Honour 2014 - Picture by Baron Cormac.

Project 34 - Krae Glas baronial birthday platter PT 3

Step 3 (should have been step 2): Determine the colour pallet. Experiment on a piece of scrap ceramic with blends and shades of glaze. The fired piece gives a good approximation of how the finished glazes will look and will guide my technique. One thing is for sure, I'm going to need a finer brush or more steady hand.

 

Project 34 - Krae Glas baronial birthday platter PT 2

Step 2: Determine your colour layout. I spent some time with a basic sketch of the elements trying to decide which colours would go where. I've determined that the four main seabeasts will be gold, while the rest of the design will be blue. I may skip the red of the original images to retain the balance, and the Krae Glas colour scheme.

 

The yellow elements were painted first, then the octopus and the Krae Glas populous devices. Finally the wave motif was painted in and the whole background was given a simple blue wash. I contemplated using a different blue for the background but decided that if I was careful enough the depth of glaze would be apparent. I haven't used a wash since trying to duplicate patina on my first plate. I hope this works out well.

Ceramic 32 - Janet's Bowl

Item 32 - only 18 more to do, in 10 months!

The finished bowl - on it's side, it sort of looks like her device.

This was created to complete Elizabet's set so I could enter it in the Midwinter Crown-anation A&S competition (tableware). I barely managed to get the bowl fired before delivering it to Sir Wolfram and Mistress Genna to take to Cold-berra for me.

 

The whole set, the cup is still my favourite piece - the plain white is nicer and the cats better, also, sleeping kitten.

 

The bowl was inspired by the same design as the plate and the cup. The full documentation submitted to the A&S competition was the subject of my last post.  I'm positing it again because it needs further discussion. From the picture above, you can see that the red on white design is alot sparser than it was on the plate. I was mostly working from images of the other two items rather than the extant piece (I'd lost the bit of paper). This interpretation of the design looks more modern to me. I am quite happy that when viewed on the side (image 1), it does look like her heraldry.

The one problem I have with this item is the fact the glaze has slumped (the sort of blurry drips - below). I didn't know about this when writing up my documentation because I hadn't yet seen the fired bowl. I think the glaze slumped due to two reasons, 1. I initially had three white circle designs on the outside (as on the inside) but it looked to sparse. So I sort of sanded the glaze back a little and re-painted the entire outside. (I'd also rubbed quite a bit of it down accidentally while painting the inside so it needed re-doing anyway). Because I couldn't be sure which areas needed a new covering, the whole thing got coated properly. As a result, there may be areas which received five layers of under-glaze. This, combined with the steep sides, has allowed the overglaze to drip and slump a little. As well, it's still rather pretty and Elizabet has a whole set now (and I've actually completed a set, something I usually avoid). Lesson learned for next time.

Tableware documentation - Ceramics 27, 28 and 32.

I entered Lady Elizabet's ceramics in the Midwinter Crown-o-nation A&S competition for tableware. The following is the 10 pages of documentation I submitted. I've posted about her plate and cup but picked up the bowl only two hours before I had to get it over the other side of the city so Mistress Genna and Sir Wolfram could deliver it to the event. If you've been following this blog you've probably seen quite a bit of this text.

Tableware – Lochac Midwinter A&S competition

Entry & documentation by Antoinette Travaillie – the College of St Monica

What: Lady Elizabet’s ceramic tableware set – plate, cup and bowl (hand glazed commercial bisque)

Where: Manises, Spain

When: 15-16^th Century

Motivation: I started this set being inspired by an imaged Lady Alliette linked to facebook of a 1450’s earthenware plate featuring a cat. As Lady Elizabet has a rather lovely device (Figure 1) (and has made me some wonderful silk banners) I decided to recreate the plate for her. Then, obviously, she and Alliette needed mugs with cats on to make them both smile. When I eventually found out about the A&S competition, I thought I’d borrow the items back and enter them, and thank Elizabet for the loan with a matching bowl (also it completes the set).

Figure 1: Lady Elizabet Hunters device as interpreted by Countess Constanzia.

General Technique: Between 15^th-16^th centuries there were a number of ceramic centres throughout Italy and Spain (eg. Manesis, Deruta). Earthenware plates and bowls would be moulded, fired and then ceramic artists would glaze them typically with tin based glazes. These processes were usually handled by different specialists. (the V&A website has some detailed information related to earthenware production).

For these three items, I have used commercially produced bisque. I have then glazed it with commercial (and modern) glazes. To achieve a solid colour, the under-glaze must have three layers painted on. This takes some time, but is important to prevent thick lines or splotchy colours. Where white decoration is required, it is either left blank or the coloured glaze is scratched back with a wooden skewer to reveal the ceramic underneath. A clear over-glaze is then applied before firing which I get done at a professional service.

Materials:  The bisque I purchase comes in a limited set of shapes. This restricts the items I can do and how closely I can replicate items due to changes in scale or shape. For each of the items presented here, the bisque choice has driven the design selection.

The main difference between my work and that of the workshops in Manises is that I use commercial glazes. These glazes come pre-mixed and are usually a consistent colour. They also contain no toxic substances and due to the over-glazing process result in a product that is dishwasher, microwave and most importantly food safe. Many medieval items utilise a lead based glaze as it can create a higher intensity in colours like red.

The main inspiration for all of these pieces (Figure 2) features background decoration in lustre typical of Manesis at this time. I currently do not have the resources to experiment with lustre and the firing service I use will not accept pieces that have been glazed in products sourced externally. I have substituted standard glazes for this instead.

Documentation (divided by object):

Plate

I was initially reluctant to paint this design as the cat itself is too pointy for my taste. Then I realised that the aim of this plate was not to reproduce an extant sample, but to make something in a medieval style for a modern day SCA use. So I adapted it a little to best represent Elizabet’s heraldry.

Figure 2: Dish featuring a Cat. 1400-1450, Spanish, Manises. Tin Glazed Earthernware. 34.6x5.5cm.  Accession number 56.171.115, Metropolitian Museum of Art.

Adaption: In keeping with Elizabets device, I have flipped the cat to sinister and painted the bottom third of the plate in red. I have retained the decorative elements (originally in lustre on the extant piece) and used them to tie the whole plate together. I have also adapted the cat from the pointy, toothy one above to something closer to the interpretation of her device that she likes best. I've retained the long legs but made the cat appear more fluffed up and protective which I think fits Elizabet better.

Figure 3: The finished plate.

Cup

Shape: Unlike the plate, there is no generic ceramic cup shape for the time period I was examining. Many people were using glass cups at this time as well. As I had to utilise what bisque was available to me and I didn’t want to have a handle, I purchased the only one available and reverse documented it. Figure 4 and 5 show the barrel shape in both glass and earthenware.

Figure 4: Barrel shaped 16th Century glass beaker, glass, The British Museum, item 1878,1230.268

Figure 5: 1634 - Barrel shape with handle, tin-glazed earthenware, The British Museum, item 1887,0210.117

Decoration: Extant cups were decorated with lustre in a style similar to plates and bowls of the time. I decided to adapt the pattern used on the plate to the cup and keep the top of the cup white. This also allowed me to avoid the warped look of the circular features that would be caused by the slope of the cup sides. I also changed the style of the cat to match Constanzia’s interpretation better as it’s more aesthetically pleasing. I added my own touch to the cups to make Elizabet smile; I painted a sleeping kitten inside the cup that would be revealed when they had finished her tea. 

Figure 6: Cup, Manises, Spain. 1625-1700. Victoria and Albert Museum, item 447-1903

Figure 7: The sleeping cat is revealed...

Bowl

Shape: Again, there is no generic bowl shape for this time period. Shapes range from stumpy to sloped and footed (Figure 9). My bisque options were flat bowls with wide rims or more rounded, sloped bowls. I chose the second shape as it was more like those I’d seen on various museum sites.

Figure 9: Bowl, 1400 – 1425, Manises, Spain. British Museum item no: G.543

Decoration:  The craftsmen of Manises decorated both the outside and inside of bowls to varying degrees. It appears that the finer the item, the more intricate the decoration. Figures 10 & 11 show the inside and outside of a Spanish bowl with arabic inspired design. According to the listing at V&A for this item “A shipment by a leading Italian exporter of Spanish pottery, ordered from the Valencian potter Asmet Zuleima in 1407, lists 199 pieces of lustre ceramics, including ‘three large bowls, their covers painted out- and in-side’.”. When I was researching these bowls, I was rather pleased to find the bowl shown in Figure 10 as it helps support my choice of decorating 1/3 of Elizabet’s plate.

Figure 10: Inside of Lidded bowl, 1440-1460, Manises, Spain. V&A Museum item 7659:1, 2-1862

Figure 11: Outside of Lidded bowl, 1440-1460, Manises, Spain. V&A Museum item 7659:1, 2-1862

As the bowl is the final item made for this set, I wanted it to tie into the cup and plate but experiment with another way of displaying Elizabets heraldry. Figure 12 shows a typical bowl from Manises displaying lustre decoration and a heraldic device. Rather than paint the full device in the centre of the bowl (difficult with the curved sides), I decided to paint three cats around the edge. I retained the red on white decorative elements for the inside of the bowl and painted the outside with the white on red decoration. This is not entirely true to the use of elements shown by the Manises glazers however it fits well with the other items in the set.

Figure 12: Bowl, Manises, Spain, 1500. V&A museum, item 550-1864

Things learned:

* It is very difficult to paint the inside of the curved cup. Solution: lack works best as you can get away with only two coats minimising the chance of errors.

* Black glaze stains white ceramic and will never cleanly scrape off. Solution: paint a white undercoat or two underneath any black glaze that may need scraping. This prevents the black from soaking into the bisque

* Glaze on the outside of the bowl will come off on your hands (and the table) as you roll it around while painting. Solution: Paint the inside of the bowl first then upend it so it rests on it’s unpainted rim while the outside decoration is completed.

* Three layers of glaze will thicken even the finest of lines. Solution: The trick to balancing this is ensure you use lines of different thicknesses to put the ‘thin’ ones in perspective.

The set.

Project summary 

Motivation: Because I could.

Materials: Bisque ceramic cups with underglaze decoration

Year:  ~1450, Manises, Spain.

How historically accurate is it?

The bisque shapes are reasonably close to the parameters of extant pieces. The glazing technique is accurate however the glazes utilised are modern in composition due to safety reasons and other concerns. The three variations of the decorative elements are also quite close to medieval extant items.

Hours to complete: ~40

Total cost: $80 in materials

Satisfaction with finished products: 8/10

Additional resources:

Victoria & Albert museum - http://collections.vam.ac.uk/

British Museum - http://www.britishmuseum.org/

Places to paint ceramics in Australia

Melbourne
Glaze it Studio
328a Glen Eira Rd
Elsternwick
http://www.glazeit.com.au

All FiredUp
568 Hampton Street
Hampton
http://www.afu.com.au/

Brisbane
Tea andBisque-it
Shop 3 Sandgate Arcade
Cnr Brighton Rd & Cliff St
Sandgate
http://www.teaandbisque-it.com.au/

Sydney
Colour MeMine
Shop 4, 29 Holtermann Street
Crows Nest
http://www.crowsnest.colourmemine.com/

Adelaide
The PugMill
17a Rose Street,
Mile End
http://www.pugmill.com.au/
(also a good place to buy home supplies, assuming you have a kiln)

Perth
Fired!Ceramic Cafe
29 Winton Rd,
Joondalup
http://www.firedcafe.com.au/

Make yourmark
8/2 Hulme Ct
Myaree
http://www.makeyourmarkartcafe.com.au/