Linda Becker, painting clay watercolors.
Carolyn Detjen
There is never a dull moment in the Happy Potters Club. These are called “the dog days of summer,” and some of our potters are on vacation doing family travels or cruising, but not all of us. We just recently did a short visit to watercolor painting on clay bisque. This was written up in one of our favorite sources of information, Ceramic Arts. I dove into the curious waters first to see what would happen when we painted clay watercolors on top of unfired white glaze. This is typically the opposite routine in doing surface techniques on clay. However, when the pieces were removed from the kiln, we were pleasantly amazed. They didn’t have a high shine or a dull matte finish but they presented themselves “softly”. We were intrigued, so nine of us met and we each defied the fear that sometimes comes in creating a project that is unlike what we have previously accomplished.
First, we practiced on watercolor paper. Several of us were not familiar with the tendencies of wet or dry application of clay watercolors. We learned what it would do on paper and then we proceeded to the dry white glaze on the project we had brought in. We each brought in a piece of bisqueware that had been fired and then glazed in white but the glaze was not yet fired. Each of us proceeded to draw a design in pencil on the surface, lightly. Then we watered down glaze colors and filled in our drawing. This was great fun, sometimes aggravating when it didn’t do what we wanted. After the projects were dry, they were fired in one of our kilns. Not one was a failure. We are excited to see what we can do with this technique in future pots.
Don’t forget to take a look at what we have for sale in our club window. Close to home shopping when you find that you need a quick gift for someone.
Happy days to you from the Happy Potters Club!