Week One

You will  be given up to 15 test tiles, and two cups. You are also welcome to bring pieces of your own from home at any point in the class. We will be talking about how glazes, oxides, and underglazes interact with each other when layered, patterned, and painted. We will also talk about common glaze flaws and how to prevent them. 

Week Two

We will interpret our fired glaze test tiles and have some slab building demonstrations including a small wall hanging vase a cup. We will practice beginning a design in slip (liquid clay). We will have a demonstration of a technique that involves stamping into a piece and filling the recess with a differently colored slip. 

Week Three

Glazing our fired cups/vases. We will talk about how the color of the clay can change our perception of a glaze. We will be looking at our glaze test tiles to try to incorporate results we like into a design on our piece. 

Week Four 

Potluck and finished work. We will look at our glazes and how different applications created different effects. We will also talk about wet sanding our work to create a smooth finish on a piece.

Please bring:

A journal to take notes on your glaze combinations. Any other pieces that you would like to incorporate the techniques on are always welcome. 

Topics:

Ban chiang 

Stamp into leather hard pottery, fill with slip, dry, and carve away to reveal the design. Small extruded vases will be provided, but you are also welcome to bring any wet-leather hard pieces to work on. 

Sodium Silicate Crackle

Starting with a thick slab of white clay we will first form a cylinder, then paint on a differently colored slip, dry, and follow with a layer of sodium silicate. When we dry the outer layer, and push the cylinder out into a vase shape, we will create a crackle effect on the surface. 

Bubble Glazing and Wax/Tape Resist

Mix a few drops of soap into a water and glaze mixture, then, blow bubbles that when left to pop on your piece will leave a soft organic water-like pattern. You will be provided a bisqueware bowl to create your design on, and are welcome to bring your own once-fired pieces as well.

Underglaze painting and Oxides

Underglazes are a ceramicist’s paints. Underglazes will stay static through the firing practice while oxides will melt and diffuse through glaze. We will be looking at some techniques for painting in underglaze and oxides, and talk about how the thickness of our underglaze affects application. We will look at some paintings for inspiration and paint some cylinders. Bring any of your own work that you would like to paint as well. These techniques can be used on clay that is leather hard, bone dried, or bisque fired.