The Importance of Testing

And not just testing but documenting also. I have a tendency to say “I’ll remember…” and when slight changes are missed you do not know what actually caused the unexpected results. I know to never take my firings for granted but I was a bit dismayed at how my latest decal tests turned out.

I was sure after the several sets of testing done that I had a good process for my Coyote Clay Shino glaze with decals. I was so sure it would turn out I used some larger bowls I planned to donate for trophies and applied decals expecting to see what I had envisioned.

Opening the kiln I found several decals burned completely away. Ok..that was my mistake in not making sure there was enough contrast and strong details. I have already re-done the decals and expect they will be better.

But then I got to the tumblers. I was quite surprised to see a slight yellow cast again and while not matte the glaze had a soft feel to it. What did I miss? I went back through my kiln firing journal.

• Glaze not applied to thick. Check!
• Fired to Cone 1 Fast fire. Check!
• 5 min hold. Oops..no hold. Oh No!

Add that I had the tumblers on the bottom of the kiln which is the coolest part of my kiln (known from using witness cones on a regular basis) and I think I know why I had a setback.

I will try again with the Shino and decals because I love the blend so much but I will continue to search for other glazes that are a little more predictable but still give  me the look I am trying to make.

These are the only ones I consider successful. While the glaze on the Eggshell/Green needs to be dipped for a cleaner line the decal turned out as I hoped. The birds are Light Shino with a Croc Blue edge. I find that one appealing so will be doing a series of this glaze combo.

 

Many more were failures. Either burning out too
much, leaving a yellow band around the Giant Schnauzer or the glaze turning the matte yellow.

 

Below was my saddest. I WILL figure out how to make it work as a decal. The picture looked awesome of a dog coming over a jump and will be used as a special trophy for obedience. You can just see a faint outline of the dog’s head.

 

So back to the drawing board for a number of decals. This is why I only committed to a small number of projects this year.

Learning To Use Decals

I am not an artist. I do not draw or paint on clay. Nor am I a sculptor. I do not etch or carve on clay. I’ve tried. I intensely dislike what I see from my efforts. You can call it hate. I love what I see in others work when they use any of these techniques with their pottery.

So what is someone like me, who loves the imagery, to do. I love photography and while I am still in beginner mode it does not cause me the frustration trying to draw, paint, carve or sculpt causes. I actually feel as if I’m improving and I like what I see. That is most important. I like it.

I came across some conversations discussing decal work. I initially tried sending off for high-fire color decals and while they worked very nicely it was not the actual look I was hoping to see and it was a bit costly for my particular budget. Fast forward to this year. I keep seeing a name and work I like. Justin Rothshank's

He does wonderful work and has freely shared a huge amount of information about decals with the world of potters. Using the information from his blog I gathered enough tools to start my own series of tests using my own photography.

I am liking what I see so far. I have much testing to do and will share my steps as I go along from what glazes work well at what temperatures to taking a photograph step-by-step from photo to decal.

With the pictures below I’ve noted the clay, glaze, firing temp, speed of firing and what I’ve found with the decal or glaze.

All clay and glaze below is Laguna B-Mix C5 with grog. Glaze is Coyote Clay Shino glaze with Espresso Bean on the rim. Decals were printed on Fired-On Decal transfer paper.

The following picture shows tumblers bisque fired to cone 05, glaze firing done in a Skutt electric kiln to Cone 5 at a fast speed. Decal firing was to cone 04. I was surprised the glaze turned matte since my early tests to these temps did not turn matte and held their Shino colors. I realized this application of glaze was quite a bit thicker since I had to brush this on. As you can see it is rather yellowish and the Espresso Bean rim lost much of it's darkness.

I then took a group of them and decided to fast fire them back to Cone 5 and see if I gained my glaze As you can see by the comparison the one on the left looks like a glaze fired to the right temperature again. I assume the lumps and bumps under the glaze is the grog coming to the surface due to the firings.

 I then decided to try just firing the rest of them back to Cone 1 to see what would happen and they look as if they were fired back to Cone 5. I do lose some of the darkness from the decal but this glaze blends well with the sepia colored decal so I'll keep it. I will need to make sure I have some good strong lines in my decals when using this glaze. I lose the fine details firing higher.

Periods of Time

It’s interesting how certain things in life seem to fall into categories or ‘periods of time’ for me. I have a tendency to like such a wide variety of activities when I have to do the same thing over and over it falls into a rut and becomes boring or stressful.

In the years that have passed since taking pottery, and my photography, back up I’ve noticed I prefer to use them as a stress reliever so I do not stay within what I should be throwing or need to be throwing and I just throw what I feel like at the time.

Last year I made the decision to go back to work outside of my pottery fulltime so I would not have to make financial decisions. This would allow me to continue to throw whatever I wanted and not what someone else might want to purchase. It was a very freeing decision for me personally.

So what happened? I committed to several donations and found myself having to throw a number of items and it did not matter if I wanted to throw something else. I only had spare time to throw what I committed to providing.

Huh? Wasn’t that exactly what I did not want to do? Yes but what I learned with the first donation was the sense of completion I have not experienced previously. The improvement in my actual throwing skills was measurable as I came to the end of throwing all those tumblers. Very simple form but it really forced me to pay attention to being consistent and keeping my pulls up consistent.

It was a reminder to “never say never” when it comes to a journey. Just enjoy and learn from where you go.