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Pottery Tips and TechniquesMixing Decorating Slip |
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   Above are some examples of slip decorating. If you haven't decorated your pottery or ceramic with slips, you're missing out. One of the benefits is that the slips stay put, so designs don't blur or run like many glazes do. This means you can make textures in the slip that will stay exactly as you make them. You can make designs like splattering that won't work with glazes because glazes need multiple coats. You can squeeze slip out of a bottle to make designs, which is called slip trailing or use it for sgraffito, which iscoating your pottery or ceramic with slip then you scratch designs in the slip exposing the raw clay underneath. Sometimes decorating slips are called engobes, but they are generally the same thing. Slips are best applied to leatherhard greenware, but can be used on bisque to. They can be used on low fire and high fire clay. The slip must be similar to the clay, so the shrinkage between the two is the same or the slip will crack or peel off. Here is a recipe that is often used because it fits a wide variety of low fire clay bodies. When it is thinned, it works good on bisque also. Low Fire Clay RecipeKentucky Ball Clay 40gKaolin, sometimes called China Clay 20g Nepheline Syenite - flux 10g Talc 15g Silica Sand - Flint 15g High Fire Clay RecipeGeorgia kaolin 25g EPK Kaolin 25g Ball Clay 25g Frit 3124 15g Nepheline Syenite flux 10g You can find many other recipes for slip in books or on the web, including some that are specifically for applying to bisque. MixingRecipes typically add up to 100g.If you multiply all the ingredients in the above recipes by 10, you will get 1000 grams, which will fill about 1/2 of a five gallon bucket. You can then divide this up into five 1 gallon buckets and then mix different stains in each one. As a starting point, use about 15% of the total grams of stain. 1000 grams divided by 5 = 200 grams per color 15% of 200g is 30g You will use 30g of each stain Always premix the dry ingredients and then add them to your water. Many experienced potters do not premix their dry ingredients, they simply drop them into the water and mix with a jiffy mixer or paint mixer attached to a power drill. Use about half the volume of the dry ingredients for the amount of water. Mix the ingredients into the water with your hand or a stick before using the drill to avoid stirring up dust. Depending on how well your mixer does, if the slip is lumpy you will want to push it through a strainer.  This is a slip trailing bottle.     Above are some pictures of how slip trailing is put on pottery or ceramics. The completed slip should be the thickness of cream for greenware and slightly thinner for bisque. Put the slip on with a brush, a slip-trailing bottle or by dipping. As you work, your piece will dry out, so spray with water periodically and wrap tightly between sessions. You can build up multiple layers of slip to make very intricate designs. When buying ingredients to make this slip, remember that 100g is approximately 1/4 of a pound. For those who don't want the convenience of pre-mixed, pottery and ceramic shops also sell engobes in one pint containers. If you don't want to mess around with measuring and mixing, you can buy any colored decorating slip at any pottery or ceramic shop, "Copyright BigCeramicStore.com, reprinted with permission."
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All About Clay The best way of starting out is to take a few lessons. You will probably waste quite a bit in materials when you first get started. Figuring out how to truly make handmade pottery correctly and shape into what you want it to be can be quite an ordeal. The different tools that a normal shop will have can be fun to try. You will soon see which ones you like to use the most and then when you are ready you will know which ones to buy. With the help of the internet, you can now purchase most if not all of your ceramic and pottery tools and supplies online. We are located far from any well supplied dealers and yet working with reliable ceramic and pottery suppliers online has allowed us to recieve most of our orders within a timely manner. When you get all set up, just enjoy the hobby and have fun at it. Some people get pretty serious and start selling their creations at craft fairs and small stores, but others just like to create items for themselves, relatives, and friends. Whichever kind of handmade pottery you desire to endeavor, enjoy the hobby and have fun doing it.
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