shining things up

So I will move straight on to what I did two days ago, when I was at the AKI again.

My collection of bowls and pourings had survived the baking process, which surprised me quite a lot, after the warnings from Erik about connecting things that shrink individually. I think it even surprised Erik a little. I was also pleasantly surprised that the in the poured cells, the streams of slib could still be seen. 

This week I would start with the glazing of my work, I got shine, matt, and craquelure glazings, which I tried in different layers and different combinations on my work. The glazing itself is a powder that is dissolved in water. When applied to the clay (which was baked bisque, in which state it absorbs most water), the clay absorbed the water and only a powder layer remained on the surface. When this powder is heated in the oven, it melts into a smooth glass-like layer that sticks to the clay. This melting is also the reason that the products were placed on a thin layer of oven sand, so that if the glazing leaks off the clay, it does not stick to the oven plate but to the sand. 

Because of the powder residue that is left on the work, the visual results of this process are not that exciting, as everything became white, basically. 

What was more daring was the colour glazing that I applied later on the 'cells' that were not covered with transparent glazing. I tried a combination of black, green, red, and blue again, and painted this glazing as watercolor on the bakings. You can see that in the beginning I was still quite hesitant to use the watercolor aspect of the glazing, mostly applying it in thick layers on the clay. However later I became a little more creative with the colors. I did however choose not to paint the collection of bowls now, but wait to see how these paintings turned out first, because I think my hesitance came mostly from not knowing what the effect of my actions would be. 

Erik would apply a glazing powder for me, because these paintings cannot be covered with liquid glazing. In a week I will know how everything turned out, and will be a little bit wiser about how to use glazing.