I’m always amazed at how generous the clay community is in regards to sharing information and techniques (which would make a good blog topic for another day).  I personally use the internet as my main research tool nowadays – it leads me to book titles, magazine articles, other artists and potters, tools, products to try, glaze recipes, tips, techniques and more.  After writing about my frustration of not finding a lead free commercial overglaze to silkscreen on to decal paper for work that comes into contact with food 2 days ago, a few people offered up suggestions in the comment section following my post and via email.  I think that their info is worth sharing in a separate post today.

Pauline from Wilmington, N.C. wrote to me via email and mentioned that decals are prone to scratching and metal marks from utensils, whereas silk screening onto wet or bisque fired clay using under glazes, and then sealing with a clear or transparent glaze creates a more durable surface.  Pauline teaches silk screening on clay classes and sent me her class handouts and also many different images of her process.  She has given me permission to share some of her images and information on my blog.

Silk screened hand built vases with underglaze and clear glaze over top, courtesy of the artist

An example of text silk screened onto bisque fired clay - very crisp, courtesy of artist.

Silk Screened Fish Plate - I'm impressed with the amount of detail in the fish. (I think the text above the image is a typo) Courtesy of the Artist.

Pauline also recommended using glycerin, which is available in drug stores, as a silk screening vehicle for under glaze onto both raw and bisque fired clay.

Here are some of her suppliers to make silk screens easily without having to build a screen from scratch:

• PhotoEZ Silk Screen sells kits, photo emulsion and pre-made silk screens for use on fabric, paper, clay, glass, and more.
• EZ Screen Print – sells everything you need to make your own silk screens.  This is the site where I purchased my supplies last year – no chemicals needed or special equipment.

She also sent me a few links to potters/ceramic artists who use silk screen methods to transfer images to clay or make their own decals that she shares with her students:

• Cul de Sac Design – Laura McKibbon
• Laura Zindel – according to Laura’s site, she mentions that her technique is a modern version of transfer ware.
• International Museum of Print and Clay – a collection of artists who use printmaking techniques on clay, including silk screening decals.
• Katie Parker – looks like she uses a variety of techniques including decals, sculpture, screen printing.
• Circa Ceramics Nancy and Andy use a Print Gocco to make custom decals for their work.
• Kuehn Keramik – not actually an individual artist, but a German shop that carries a wide variety of home furnishings including ceramic work.
• Annabel Faraday – a ceramicist out of Great Britain who silk screens maps onto clay.
• Liz Emtage Ceramics – makes really beautiful translucent silk screened porcelain lamps.

Pauline, thanks for the information and links.  While I recognized the work of some of these artists (and many are some of my faves), a few are new to me.

I also received a comment from Brian Fields (happens to live in North Carolina too) who gave me quite a gift in the form of a link to Reusch & Co.,  a local Colorado company (just an hour north of Denver) that sells lead and cadmium free overglaze, along with a variety of decal making supplies.  Here’s a link to Reusch’s products and catalog.  Reusch also provides a variety of technical information as well as tips on making small run decals. I’m not sure why Reusch never came up in my searches in the past – either they’re not using key words effectively or haven’t worked on SEO.  Or, maybe I wasn’t using the right search terms.  At any rate, thank you Brian!

Brian also mentioned Bel Inc., which I had already discovered but sort of ignored.  They make custom decals, sell decal making supplies for a variety of applications including ceramic work, and also sell on glaze ceramic inks.  I think I skipped this one because there’s a little disclaimer on the bottom “according to our testing results, the soluble Pb and Cd remains in trace (Please refer testing reports).”  The problem is that I never found those reports online and kept searching.  I suppose I could research acceptable lead and cadmium levels in pottery.

I plan on ordering a small quantity of on glaze from Reusch and will try my hand at making some silk screened decals in the near future.  I also think that it might be interesting to combine silk screening on raw clay with underglaze and decals over glaze for a layered effect.  The trick would be to keep it interesting while not overly busy.

Michael Kline, who happens to live in NC too, also wrote that he met Andy Brayman, who is both a ceramic artist and the owner of Easy Ceramic Decals at an Arrowmont conference .  Andy will take your original art and create custom decals for you to use on your work which will save you precious studio time to concentrate on other tasks.   Andy uses a special printer that he found in Europe that is able to produce polychrome decals and his prices are very reasonable for a small run.

One additional thought from me, ceramic decals have become quite popular in the last few years.  It’s hard to open a ceramic magazine or book without seeing the process in use today.  I’m probably a little late to the party – or maybe it’s only getting started.  I’m not sure – feel free to weigh in.  I want to use my own imagery and am looking for a way to combine 2D art such as drawing/photography/painting and ceramics in a more efficient manner to finish my work.  Many printmaking techniques have been used for centuries for ceramic decoration, so in that sense, this isn’t a new or trendy phenomenon.   I suppose at the end of the day, it’s how a person uses the technique, rather than the technique itself that matters.

Finally, did a whole lot of potters find some type of clay nirvana in North Carolina?  Am I missing out in something?  If so I had better think about relocating so I can drink some of their Kool-Aid!  Just kidding, I know North Carolina is a state with a rich clay heritage and appreciation of fine craft.

Now that my post is written, I’m signing off for the day – at least until after dinner tonight.  I have some work to do.

~Cynthia

Follow up note:  I use the terms “on glaze” and “over glaze” interchangeably.  Which is the more accurate term – or are they one and the same?

All this time, I’ve been googling over glaze, china paints, ceramic ink, decals, silk screening decals for ceramics and other possible combinations – but a quick search for “on glaze” and a mother load of new results appear.  Try searching onglaze,   on glaze or on-glaze (insert or delete the space between on and glaze, add hyphens etc.) and thousands of new search results are returned.  You could narrow the same search to “lead free onglaze” and include even narrower search terms until you find relevant information.  Doh – but even after perusing 5 pages, I still haven’t seen either Reusch or Ferro in the results.  Lesson learned – use multiple search terms to get the most bang for your time and effort.

Last note:  It’s a bit of synchronicity that the daily email from Ceramic Arts Daily features China Paint and Overglaze by Paul Lewing today, which after looking at the table of contents includes a chapter on making overglaze enamels from scratch.  I looked for the book in the Denver Public Library database, but it’s not available, but I was able to request the book via inter-library loan.  The closest copy is at the University of Colorado at Boulder library – I always forget that we can borrow books from anywhere in the world using World Cat which is available through the library’s online interface and now also on Facebook.