Ceramic - Pottery Dictionary

by Susan Mussi

IN-GLAZE

ca: SOBRE COBERTA

es: SOBRE CUBIERTA

In-glaze: you work on bisque, which is clay that has been fired, covered it with and opaque base, then it is decorated with colors that are mixed with a transparent glaze and both are fired together at 980º C. In the following sections the ways of handling the base and colors might slightly alter, but the basic method is the same.

What is so important about this method is the firing of both together, because it integrates the colors that overlap, to form other colors and shades and shows the movement and intensity of the brush strokes. Colors can overlap to form another, a light one under a dark one and the contrary, the same colors are used with different intensities. The white of the base at the left will be the lightest part, accentuating the dimensions and one of the most important things will be the movements of the paint brush, because it accentuates shapes and forms. There is great difficulty in correcting, for instance; if you scrape off a mistake when fired the different strengths of the base or color will be seen. It is easier to correct dark colors than light ones.

Note: Each of the methods, are defined under their name, for example; Screen Printing has 9 sections and below will take you to the first one. If you are interested in seeing the rest, at the bottom of it is a link to the next section or you can click onto the letter “S” and move down to see them all together.

a) Dry cord; refers to the outlines or parts of the base that are scraped off and are left to show the bisque, painted with a transparent glaze or filled with another color. Read more about: Dry cord

b) Glaze-base textures; the base can be given different textures. Read more about: Glaze-base (m) Textures / Glaze-base (n) Textures with added substances / Glaze-base ° Textures with colors / Spattering

c) Majolica decorating: it has many sections which cover the method of decorating tiles, plates, jars and lids. Read more about: Majolica: 5b – Preparing to paint tiles / MAJOLICA: 5e – Preparing to paint plates / MAJOLICA: 5g – Painting jars / MAJOLICA: 5i – painting lids

d) Relief molding; can be flat or in three dimensions. Modeled in stoneware, bisque fired at 1280º C and then decorated using different methods. Always starting with the ones that have to be fired at the highest temperature and using the Majolica method at 980º C for the illustrated parts of the decoration. Read more about: Majolica: 4f – Colors fired at two temperatures / Majolica: 4g – Relief in four different thicknesses.

e) Repeated designs; are tiles of one design, repeated to form a pattern. Read more about: Repeated tiles

f) Screen printing of outlines with in-glaze decorating. Read more about: Screen printing

g) Stenciling: using shapes cut out of paper to mark on designs. Read more about: Stencil: (1)

Read more about: On-Glaze / Underglaze