I see Mugshot Monday and other Monday pots on Facebook. Since I do majolica I've decide to try to post something about majolica.
This is a cookie jar I made for a show I did last year. I love nursery and nonsense rhymes, so of course the Egg came to mind.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
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| Humpty Dumpty had a great fall |
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| All the King's horses, |
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| And all the King's men |
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| Could not put Humpty together again. |
This is bisqued and glaze fired to ^04. The interior is glazed with Spectrum clear with a little Mason Iron stirred in which I brushed onto the unfired clay. (Spectrum glazes in particular once fire very well.) I find that just a bit of iron gets rid of the milkiness that can happen with clear over terra cotta.
It's glazed In either Linda Arbuckle's Majolica or Spectrum's Majolica White. I do add a little rutile to my whites to take away the over-whiteness and get a slightly creamy quality to the glaze.
I paint mostly with Mason Stains mixed 50/50with Frit 3124. This gives me a watercolor look which I can blend with my fingers when dry. Before I do my outlining I spray the whole thing with super hold hair spray. The colors are just a little bit more stable and make outlining much easier. I always use a black underglaze for my outlining. If I want my color to be more opaque I mix my stains with a gerstley borate and frit mix. This gives them a flatness comparable to gouache. This mix also works well as an underglaze.
I've begun planting some of the big planters. I potted up eight small dahlias yesterday and a bunch of moonflower seedlings. I saw them in the greenhouse and decided to go with seedling this year. I ended up buying large moonflower plants last year because rain kept washing out and rotting seeds. I feel a bit ahead of the game.
It's cloudy now. I would like to be out planting, but unfortunately we have to go out for a bit! It's supposed to get sunny and warm later on......toes crossed.
Have a fine Memorial Day.....drink to The Lost.
As always, thanks for stopping by..............*s*
Humpty Dumpty, I love it... such detail.
ReplyDeleteHi Michele....Thanks; they're fun to make.
DeleteYour cookie jar is wonderful, I love nursery rhymes, good tip about stirring a bit of iron into the clear, approximately how much do you stir in to what amount of glaze?
ReplyDeleteinteresting how you mix the stains 50/50 with frit or gerstley borate; I mix my stains with slip and then brush them on the greenware plate, then glaze with a clear satin or clear shiny glaze. I like Amaco Satin Matt glaze. I may try your stain mixing techniques to see how it fares on some test plates. Thanks for all the tips, have a good one. I got five more fruit trees to plant today.
Hi Linda....Thanks. I mix entirely by eye. The last time I did it I used about a cup of glaze and mixed colorant so it looked like weak tea. It will give a slight ting to any colors you glaze over, but looks great on clay.
DeleteI've found that for all the information around, I do best by testing. What temp do you fire to? I think the gerstley borate/frit combo becomes glaze like at higher temps, but I may be thinking of another slip. I used Spectrum's low-fire uncolored slip and mixed in my own colors when I was teaching my class of developmentally delayed adults.
Five fruit tree! You must be having fun with your new house.
Dearest Suzi,
ReplyDeleteYou worked out that nursery rhyme in a very fun way!
Happy Memorial Day too and let's pray we keep our hard earned FREEDOM!
Hugs,
Mariette
Hi Mariette....Thanks; I like an element of play in my work.
DeleteHappy Memorial Day to you. There are so many to remember.
what a cutie!
ReplyDeleteHi Gary....Thanks. The cars are pretty cute too!
DeleteWhat a fun piece. It looks like many, many hours of painting.
ReplyDeleteSuzi, these are great! Fun stuff!
ReplyDelete