Can You Burnish Ceramics After An Under Glaze

Most commercially produced underglazes can be used on both bone dry greenware or bisque ware.

Can you burnish ceramics after an under glaze. After you have applied enough terra sigillata to the whole pot and there are no wet patches then you can start using a chamois leather or a soft cloth or even a thin plastic shopping bag to bring the surface to a high gloss. Which can serve aesthetic goals differently from coatings like glaze. Ancient potters used these techniques to produce their wares before glazes and kilns were developed. Using underglazes gives you an advantage that lends fluidity in the design process.

This video will show you a variety of colorful techniques you can use with underglaze and low fire clay. They work by dispensing underglaze onto your ceramics when you press down on the nib. The vessel is less fragile. Check out this post in the archives for more on burnishing ceramics.

Burnishing pottery is a technique in which clay is polished to a beautiful sheen without the use of glaze like this piece by carol molly prier. Today modern potters are burnishing pottery to create works of great beauty. The pressure you put on the pen tip opens a valve which transfers the underglaze onto your work. You don t have to worry about the underglaze getting the clay body too wet.

Of course as you noted slips can be burnished too allowing the look of a differently colored or patterned clay. Using underglaze on bisque fired clay has 5 advantages. Sgraffito inlay transfer painting and maiolica. Snail sumi von dassow on mon 1 mar 10 may you have to burnish before firing i burnish bone dry but other potters burnish leather hard.

But since you plan to use pure clay and an electric kiln its wide open for you to experiment with burnishing and such. Students can work almost as if they are painting. Ceramic arts network 42 711 views. You can buy underglaze pens that look and feel like regular pens.

Make lots of things with notes on what steps were taken. You can begin with an underglaze design on greenware bisque it and then add more color or detail with different underglazes before applying a transparent coat. The pottery is fired it has a natural lead glaze i think it is called plumbate pottery. This means underglazes are super versatile and can potentially save you time if you are running a tight firing schedule.

A jeweler s burnishing tool can be used but most potters use the backs of spoons and polished stones. After the preliminary burnishing has been completed you can get an even higher gloss by using your thumb or a finger that is tightly wrapped in a piece of plastic grocery bag see the photo for an example.