Learning to Glaze
Slips
Slip is liquefied clay and is usually the consistency of heavy cream. Our slips are colored with mason stains and can add a lot of color to your project. We carry 15 different colors. You can find them in the hand building room.
Slips are applied on wet (although there cannot be water on the surface of the pot) or leather hard pots. Do not apply slip to bisque ware.
Sgraffito and Mishima are two common techniques that utilize slips. You can learn about them by watching the videos below:
Stains
Stains are used during the glazing stage. They are base mineral colors suspended in water. They fall out of suspension very quickly, so they must be continually mixed. The colors of stains vary depending on thickness of the application and on the type of base glaze with which they are used. We have the following colors:
Iron Oxide : red-brown to orange
Manganese Dioxide: purple to black
Cobalt Carbonate: dark blue or purple (caution: fingerprints show up after firing)
Copper carbonate: green to red depending on reduction
Stains are used in the following ways:
Over any glaze or under transparent glazes
Over bare clay in which case they are applied as if staining wood -- brush on and wipe off excess with damp sponge
Stains that are too thick will cause glaze to crawl or to turn black and chalky. Stains that are too thin will burn out. Stains that are put under transparent glazes generally do not run. Stains that are put over glazes will run if the base glaze runs.
Under Glazes
Glazes
We stock 30 high-fire glazes. 25 of them are in large buckets and are designed for dipping. Five of them are in small containers and should only be sprayed on your pot. The videos below demonstrate different application techniques.