Chapter 5: S urface Decoration

1. Chapter 5: Surface Decoration You are about to discover a vast number of surface decoration techniques and treatments! The techniques you choose for your works are broken into 2 categories: Texture and Color

2. Texture • Clay surfaces have historically served as a means for artists, to realistically or with abstract design, to: • tell a story • Display symbols of religious significance • Beautify a form • You can add texture ANYTIME before a clay piece is fired

3. Texture • Stages of Clay: • Plastic: soft and flexible • Leather-hard: most water has evaporated from the clay, feels cool to the touch. • Bone dry: Almost ALL water has evaporated from clay – feels dry and chalky to the touch.

4. Texture • IMPRESSING- best done when clay is soft • Press with a tool into clay surface and the mark left becomes a low relief of your tool • Tool possibilities include: fingernail, button, stamping tool, textured wooden beater, string, rope, burlap, lace, or whatever your imagination leads you to • You can make your own stamp designs in little pieces of clay!

5. Texture • INCISING AND APPLIQUE- can be done at any time in plastic and leather-hard stage • INCISING- cutting into the surface of the clay • APPLIQUE- applying one piece of clay to another – pieces can be coils , cut-out pieces of clay, pads, or clay designs that are pressed on the SOFT walls of a rim or a form

6. Texture • …continued…. Incising and Appliqué… • Add these to the surface of your piece by using a little pressure • If surfaces have dried somewhat – you will have to slip and score the pieces for better adhesion • PIERCING and BURNISHING- should be done when clay is leather-hard

7. Texture • Creates dramatic effects • Tools can be knives, hollow cutting tubes, anything that punctures clay • BURNISHING – rubbing the surface of the clay smooth with a stone or the back of a spoon • Produces a shiny finish • Burnish at the leather-hard stage

8. COLOR • Adding color to your piece opens up enormous creative possibilities • COLORED CLAY- mix different colored clays in the same piece • INLAYING- fill in impressed or incised marks with soft clay of a contrasting color • OXIDES AND CARBONATES- what gives clays, glazes and underglazes their colors are minerals and metals

9. COLOR • COLORED SLIPS- • Slip is a mix of extremely fine clay with water • Colored slip can be purchased to add to clay by painting or a dropper tool • UNDERGLAZE – painting on the surface of greenware (or bonedry clay) before the first fire (bisque fire)

10. Techniques for Using Color • SPONGING • Vary from rough to smooth grain • Give different textures and depth of color when daubed onto surfaces • SPATETRING • A toothbrush or a bristle brush can be used • BRUSHING • Paintbrush is good for blocking in areas of color or painting fine, delicate lines • Can be used to finish details on top of a background, outline a design, or emphasize a certain aspect of the form

11. Techniques for Using Color • MASKING • Stencils can enclose or outline background shapes or foreground designs • Cut out design from a piece of paper, lay the paper on the clay surface, apply color through the opening using one of the previous techniques • Masking tape cut into lines or shapes also makes an effective stencil • PAPER RESIST • Cut shapes or patterns from damp paper and lay these shapes on clay surface

12. Techniques for Using Color • WAX RESIST- use melted wax or white glue thinned with water • - paint design on leather hard clay, then when wax is dry wipe away areas around it with a wet sponge. Top layers will melt away in kiln leaving a raised design • Paint over waxed area with underglaze, the covered areas will remain clear and the unwaxed area will hold color • Apply on bisqueware and it will resist any glaze that is applied • Apply wax details OVER a glaze, brush or dip another glaze over it, or carve away areas of waxed area and apply glaze to the exposed surfaces

13. Techniques for Using Color • SLIP TRAILING- squeeze a line of slip onto damp clay to produce a raised line • Slip trailers can be made from pastry bags, mustard dispensers, rubber syringes • SGRAFFITO- scratching designs into colored slip or glaze to reveal the clay body underneath

14. Techniques for Using Color • MISHIMA – a pattern or design is incised or carved into the clay, slip is brushed on and then once dry – scraped off the raised areas so only the incised carving has the color • TERRA SIGILLATA – exceptionally fine-grained clay suspension in water, similar to colored slip

15. Printing Techniques • Transfer Printing – using etched plates • Monoprints- a single print • Photo Emulsions • Computer Generated decal Transfers – using an image printed to transfer to surface of clay

16. GLAZES • Glaze has the same characteristics as glass when it melts and fuses onto a clay surface • All glazes made from 3 basic ingredients: silica, flux and alumina

17. Types of Glazes • Low-Fire: The First Glazes (what we use!) • Melt a relatively low temps • High-Fire Glazes • Used on stoeware and porcelain • Must be fired at high temperatures • Overglazes and Paints • A low temperature glaze that goes OVER original glaze

18. Applying Glazes • Clean pottery – wipe it with a damp sponge or rinse it quickly under the tap - dry • Paint wax on (if using) • May have to paint several layers – test thickness by scratching glaze with thumbnail. Should be the thickness of a card.

19. Applying Glazes • Dipping – dipping glaze into large container filled with glaze • Pouring- pour glaze inside piece and swirl around, pour out any extra back into glaze container • Brushing – use a SOFT paintbrush to apply glaze • Brush at least 3 layers onto piece in DIFFERENT directions • Do NOT allow glaze to dry out before adding layers • Spraying- using a spray gun or an airbrush to apply base glaze