Print an image from a black and white ink jet printer and transfer the image to clay using slip. Keep the paper on until after it is fired and the ink turns into a stain like iron oxide that fires into the clay body.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but this technique only works if you go over the image with underglaze, as the inkjet ink will burn out in the kiln. It's my understanding that the ink from a laser printer will hold up in the kiln (at a very low temp, maybe 06? Not sure) because of the iron content in the ink. The image will not be black, but a brownish color after firing. I've never heard of leaving the paper on. The water content in the wet clay should cause the ink to transfer to the clay surface so you can remove the paper. If you dab the back of the paper with a damp sponge, and then use a rib to burnish the image onto the wet clay, it should transfer. Anyway.... this is what I remember from art school. Maybe they use different ink in the inkjet these days and it now holds up in the kiln, but if it's water based, it will just burn out.
@@faith7562 There's a step being left out of her tutorial, so for most people it isn't going to work. I don't know what kind of printer ink Crystal was using, but from some quick research I'm finding that they mostly can withstand a max temperature of a few hundred degrees before burning off. So whatever ink used would have to survive glaze firing temperatures. It's no wonder some of the people who tried and commented said their pattern was lost. That's where the extra step comes in. The printed pattern must first be completely covered by underglaze of the same color. You'd need a fine point applicator to trace the design, but it would work this way.
As far as I know, inkjet ink is water based and will burn out when fired in the kiln. If you want to retain the image you have to use a laser printer due to the iron content in the ink; however, the image will not be black, it will be brown. It also has to be fired at a very low temp. The process shown, is used to provide a guide for either carving or as a drawing guide for underglaze. You do not need to leave the paper on the wet piece, you can burnish the image onto the clay, and pull the paper off once the clay is leather hard. Once the clay dries completely, I suspect the paper will fall off anyway. Anyway, unless they've changed the chemical composition of inkjet ink, it will burn out in the kiln. At least this is what I was taught in art school.
@@cidk59 I was taught the same. Iron does make sense. I’ve seen some that are underglaze, they do really well. And I’m curious about using ink to just transfer then carve…
I have never seen this work with inkjet because they do not have iron oxide in the ink. But Toner in the lazer Jet Printers has some iron oxide in it and that is the reason the image goes reddish. Some glazing will wash it away in a firing because the oxide is a residual amount and the glaze absorbs it and it is not noticeable anymore. At least that is my theory. I have had it work with glaze and other times it doesn't.
