Wish I knew the trick for countering smearing 40 years ago when I was building dogs with nerikomi slabs. What a mess I made! Aside from the annoyance with myself over this, the video was comforting to watch.
Good tip for the steel wool! I’ve avoided doing stuff like this on my grogged clay because I want it smooth and burnishing smears the colors. Thank you!
This is a detailed explanation for you if you want consistent and repeatable results. The simplest way is to just add either metallic oxides like iron or cobalt to your slip by the spoonful, like when you are cooking. Slips are opaque so they need a higher percentage of colorant than a glaze does to get the color you want. Think food coloring in water vs. a milkshake. (note that food coloring is organic and will burn away in the firing so do not use it to color your slips or glazes) Brighter colors or primary colors can be achieved with commercial stains which are expensive and introduce more challenges from temperature and atmospheric changes in the kiln. They look great in the raw state and often will fire out white if you have not done your homework. The easiest way to start is to use other successful potters recipes and techniques. The problem is the results are unpredictable without testing by firing. Slips should be designed for your clay body and temperature that you are firing to. The simplest slip is one made from the clay body that you are using (best if it is white or off white or your pallet of colors will be limited). Dry some of your clay (I use trimmings), the smaller the pieces the better. Break it up and crush the dry clay into small pieces and weigh out some and add your metallic oxides like iron, cobalt and chrome for color. Slips require more colorant than glazes so you can add up to 10%. Mix and add to clean water and allow the clay to slake. Dry clay breaks down to a nice smooth slip in a few minutes (faster the finer the particle size). When the clay has settled and made a smooth slip, pour off the excess water off of the top and stir. Adjust the slip to the thickness that you want by adding a little water at a time and stirring. If there are lumps, run it through a tea strainer then use it in good health. Robin Hopper, a Canadian potter, developed a slip recipe that he called a Universal slip because it would work on any clay at any temperature. I have adjusted and changed it to a new improved slip which I have used on pots fired from cone 06 to 11 successfully.This is the decorating slip that I use now. Try experimenting with different colorants and stains and let me know how it works for you. New Universal Slip: Cone 06-10 (Current GCC Decorating Slips) OM-4 Ball Clay 750.0 EPK/Kaolin 100.0 Custer Feldspar 25.0 Frit 3134 25.0 Silica 100.0 1000.0 1. For Dark Iron add: Red Iron Oxide 160 2. For Dark Blue add: Cobalt Carbonate 50 Manganese Dioxide 20 3. For Green add: Chrome Oxide 40 Cobalt Carbonate 10 4. For White add: Zircopax 200 5. For Black add: Mason 6600 Stain 150 Good luck and have fun experimenting and creating your personal pallette.
Hi Nadja, Thank you for watching. It is a very simple and old technique which I am sure you can do on your work. What makes my work very expensive is my experience, story and quality of work. If you incorporate mishima into your work and keep at it, your work will be very expensive too. Good luck and take care
