Archive for the “Ceramic Decals” Category

China Paint and Overglaze by Paul Lewing

This is a follow up to my posts on hand made ceramic decals here and here and my subsequent search for lead free over glazes a few weeks ago.  I found several references to Paul Lewing’s book (above) online and decided to take a look for myself.  The book wasn’t available from any libraries in the Denver metro area, but I was able to use the Inter Library Loan system and have a week to peruse the book courtesy of Southern Utah University.

I quickly flipped to the pertinent sections on decals, homemade recipes for over glazes as well as a review of commercial leaded and lead free overglazes.  The findings are interesting - according to some of the leaching tests that Lewing performed, some of the lead free over glazes tested higher for acceptable lead and cadmium levels than the traditional leaded version.   Granted he used a signicant amount of over glaze for his tests which may not be entirely accurate.  His conclusions include the possibility that the same equipment is used by manufacturers who produce both types of underglaze.

Lewing recommends having work leach tested if one plans on using overglaze on functional work that comes into contact with food.  Decals made using lead free overglaze should probably be used on the exterior of work as a decorative element rather than in direct contact with food.  While I did glance through the rest of the book, I hope I can find time to read some of the sections more thoroughly before I have to return the book to the library.  It contains a fascinating history on the practice of china painting and includes both traditional practitioners as well as more contemporary applications from artists such as Kurt Weiser, whose work I adore.

I still plan on ordering some lead free overglaze from Reusch in the near future - but those experiments are on hold until I finish cranking work out for the Colorado Potters Guild Fall Show in early November.

Stoneware Cannisters for charging batteries

Meanwhile, I sometimes get email requests for work that I don’t make.  I decided to post this request on my blog because it may be an interesting proposition for someone else.

“I am looking for ceramic / stoneware pots out of high temperature stoneware clay for the RC hobby person (radio control). In the photo above, the cannisters are used to charge batteries, because there is a risk of the battery catching fire.  This is not a decorative item, but more a functional one. These should be strong and capable of withstanding very high temperatures, and about 8 - 10 inches high and 3 - 6 across.  A glazed or at least smooth inside would be preferred.

I am not in any rush right now, as I am still in the research stage with this. Initially I would like 2 or 3 examples to evaluate & make changes to, thereafter I would probably order in groups of 10 or so. This would also depend on the unit pricing, as I have a retail price in mind I would like to sell at. If you would not be able to assist me in the manufacture of this item, I would appreciate it tremendously if you could could put me in touch with somebody, or a few people, who might be able to help me.

From the bottom of the pots: Hand made on a potter’s wheel out of high temp. stoneware clay. Fired to 2500 degrees fahrenheit pyrometric cone 11+.   It is extremely strong and capable of withstanding temperatures well over 2000 degrees.”

If anyone is interested in pursuing this opportunity, please contact me and I’ll give you the person’s name, email and phone number.

It sounds like an interesting clay application, but given that I rarely fire above ^6, and don’t use stoneware - other than a white porcelainous one, I am passing.

Have a great weekend,

~Cynthia

Untitled 2005, collage, rubbed texture, photo copies, vellum, marker

Last week, I was searching through some of my old sketch books for something to use as a screen print experiment and came across some collages that I made for a graphic studio that I took in Landscape Architecture grad school in 2005.  I go back to my stint in grad school a lot because I really pushed myself during that time period and made some interesting work.  In some ways it was $9,000 well spent even if I didn’t graduate from the program.

Untitled 2005, collage, photo copies, vellum, marker

The three collages I’ve included in this post caught my eye and as I sat there with them for a moment in silence, I realized that they represent how I want to approach surface decoration on my ceramic work.  After writing a few posts recently about screen printing and making ceramic decals from scratch here and here, I came to the conclusion that I would like to create a layered effect with imagery, texture, glaze and decals on clay.  So when I found these collages, a light went off in my head - just like a cartoon…

Can you see the brain synapses firing away?

Since you can’t really see the layering in the collage on a computer screen as well as you would in person, allow me to explain.  In these collages, I used a variety of graphic textures, text and imagery pulled from newspapers, texture rubs, magazines, and my own mark making.  In two of these, I colored some vellum with a translucent markers used by architecture professionals (brands like Prismacolor or Letraset) and collaged it on top of the black and white imagery which in my mind represents the glaze layer.  What I didn’t add to these collages is a third layer or the ceramic decal - but I could easily simulate this by transferring toner based photo copies with a colorless Chartpak Blender Marker on top of the vellum.

Untitled 2005, collage, photo copies, vellum, conte crayon

The collages are not meant to be great art works - they’re more like quick creative exercises to spark design ideas.  It was exciting to me when I rediscovered these, each measuring approximately 7″ x 9″.  They’re playful, not overly thought out, spontaneous and will be a good addition to my studio practices to push my work or at least the surface of my work to become more complex and all mine.  Since first discovering clay in 2002, I have enjoyed the process of  working with wet clay much more than the finishing aspect of ceramics.  Glazing has always been a sometimes painful after thought, and I confess a single dip in the glaze bucket was about as creative as I dared in regards to finishing my work - sometimes even going as far as to use a one color for the interior and another for the exterior.  Hold the phone, keep your pants on!

Minimal and quiet does have its place in ceramics, but it doesn’t really describe me or my personal preferences.  Consequently, it feels sort of hypocritical to cop out and apply a minimalistic look to my ceramic work.  If you were to visit my house, you would be greeted by a riot of color, mismatched heirloom/purchased/thrift store furniture, family photographs, art work - other’s, my daughter’s and mine, my grandmother’s glass and tea cup collection, mementos, along with piles of newspapers, magazines, and books covering the entire surface of the coffee table that reflect my family and a well lived in home.  And, if you’ve followed my blog for any length of time, you know I’m sometimes scattered, focused, colorful, loud, quiet, opinionated, empathetic, interested in many different ideas and philosophies and I think my work should reflect that as well, much like my home reflects my family.

I wonder if the past few months of mental wrangling, studio avoidance and general gnashing of teeth has been in response to this dialog that’s been going on inside my head.  When I think about it, all of this started when I returned home from my teaching stint at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in August.  I was so inspired by my stay there, that I made the decision then and there to push myself to make better work - I just didn’t know what the answer or path was when I came home.  That dialog has been playing in my head around the clock in the background ever since returning much like a computer security scan works behind the scenes allowing normal use of the computer yet slowing everything down at the same time.  Processing…processing…scan complete!

Whew.

I’m not ruling out a touch of ADD, left brain deficiency or general off kilterness either. 

Meanwhile, that’s me in the photo above holding a tiny porcelain faceted bottle I made for a miniature swap as part of the Etsy Mud Team this month and was taken by my daughter.  I haven’t been a very active participant in Etsy since early July because I haven’t made any new work in awhile - it’s a wonder I haven’t been kicked out.  If any fellow Etsy Mud Team members are reading this - I’m getting back into the swing of things, pinky promise.

Paul McCartney and Wings are currently serenading me as I write this and the upbeat music blast from the past sounds so apropos for this picture perfect movie moment in my life - cue zoom in for close up.  Smile of contentment on my face.  Fade to future - End on positive note.

C’est tout,

~Cynthia

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.