Results of my 22 bowl test

This will be a pretty sizable post and I'll try to present all the information I learned from my 22 bowls study. This was done on MB Clay from Minnesota Clay Company. I'm new to this clay, so I wanted to do some testing to see how well it performed with the glazes we have available. These bowls are small, about 3" diameter, and were punched from a slab and slumped on a plaster bowl shaped mold. I trimmed them up a bit, but not much time was spent in trying to make perfect forms.



I'll list the glazes/stains that I had available from the Minnetonka Center for the Arts.

First the glazes;

1. Robin's Clear
2. Rhodes White
3. MAC White
4. Piepenberg White
5. Dark Celadon
6. Light Celadon
7. Tenmoku
8. Denny's Blue/Brown
9. Cushing Black
10. Mamo Blue
11. *none*
12. Reitz Green
13. Dunham
14. Cushing Blue/Green
15. Red Shino
16. Wirts Shino
17. B/B Ash
18. Gold Shino
19. 3D Matte
20. Fake Ash
21. Pete's Copper Red
22. Frog Belly
23. Shanner's Green
24. Beach Blue
25. Pinell Bronze Green
26. Brokema Celadon
27. CR's Yellow

Then the extra stains, engoves, Terra Sigillata's

A. White Engove
B. Black Engove
C. Porcelain Slip
D. Porcelain Blue Slip
E. Dark Blue Slip
F. Iron Stain
G. Terra Sig. Mustard
H. Terra Sig. Newmans Red
I. Terra Sig Red Art
J. Terra Sig. Blue
K. Terra Sig. Black
L. Gerstley Rutile
M. Black Stain
N. Delphinium Blue Stain
O. Iron Wash
P. Ochre Wash
Q. Avacado Engove *new*
R. Lavender Engove *new*

Now, the bowls...

Bowl 1.

This bowl was layered with light blue porcelain slip, and dark blue slip before bisque firing. The lizard patern was painted with black stain. Then covered with Robin's Clear glaze. I liked the result of this test.

Bowl 2.

This bowl was engraved and inlaid with buff stoneware clay, then was glazed with a light coat of CR's yellow. The glaze obscured the inlays, so this is a bad glaze to use with this surface technique.

Bowl 3.

This bowl has 3D Matte around the edge, flowers painted with mustard terra sig. Then sprayed with a light layer of Red Shino. I think this has some potential for a nice yellowish dun type effect.

Bowl 4.

This bowl was sprayed with a layer of Pinell Bronze Green, then I painted the leaf with 2 more layers of the same glaze. I liked the green (where it was thick), but I need to do something else around the outside.

Bowl 5.
The center symbol had delphinium stain in the engraved parts. The larger dots around the exterior were painted with Cushing Black, and the rim was layered with a dip into Fake Ash. The overall effect was not too bad, but I would do something different to the middle in the future.

Bowl 6.

This bowl had a rubbing of ochre wash in the center figure, dipped in piepenburg white, then the rim was painted with Gerstley Rutile. The mixture of glazes obscured any surface details, so I know not to do this in the future if I want any surface details. The gerstley rutile did add some excitement to the Piepenburg though.

Bowl 7.

This bowl had a butterfly pattern set in light blue porcelain slip, then was dipped in Piepenburg White (top), MAC white (left), and Mamo Blue(right). Ok, so I was disappointed by much of this test. I like how the flower displayed through the glaze on the top. I liked the dark blue triangle at the bottom, so I'll do some further tests to see if I can reproduce that portion.

Bowl 8.

This bowl has Rietz Green in the center, with the rim dipped in Tenmoku. I really like how this bowl turned out. There are some really exciting things happening with the interactions of these two glazes. I'll try some further testing with more vertical surfaces.

Bowl 9.

This bowl has the center painted with 3D Matte, then dipped in Dark Celadon. I think the tan portion is a little dull, so I'll do something different there. I like how the center fluxed between the two glazes.

Bowl 10.

This bowl is a triple dip, with Rhodes White on the top, Denny's on the right side, and Dunham on the left side. The center triangle I painted with Gerstley Rutile. I like the overall effect of these three in complement to each other.

Bowl 11.

This bowl had a flower carving, then dipped in Light Celadon, with blobs of Pete's Copper red on the petals. I was thinking the Pete's Red might run more, but it stayed put pretty much. I like this bowl.

Bowl 12.

The bowl had carving deep around a moth figure. It was just dipped in Cushing Blue green. There was so much that happened to this for just one glaze. Overall, this was a pretty successful bowl which revealed how this glaze will act for different surface thicknesses.

Bowl 13.

This bowl had a slip trailing of white engove before it was bisqued, then I painted the petal with Pete's red, the center had a blob of 3D matte and then the whole thing was dipped in Brokema Celadon. It was interesting how the glazes reacted to the white engove. It was either the Pete's red, or the Brokema that made the white engove crystallize and black. Anyway, it was an interesting result.

Bowl 14.

This bowl had 3 deeply carved butterflies, which were then filled with dark blue porcelain slip before bisque. The entire surface had a light coating of Bleach Blue, then 1/2 was dipped in Robin's clear. You see the side with the clear over the Beach Blue faired better. The side with just the light Beach Blue went yellow.

Bowl 15.

This is my Shino test bowl. The pattern in the surface was rubbed with Iron Wash, then triple dipped into Red Shino(top right), Wirts Shino(bottom), and Gold Shino(top left).

Bowl 16.

The center of this bowl was painted with Delphinium stain, then it was triple dipped in Mamo Blue (top), Cushing's Blue/Green(left side), and Beach Blue(bottom). The most interesting effect happened at the nine o'clock position on this bowl. I also like what is happening in some of the center area's. I'll do some more tests on the interactions between these three glazes.

Bowl 17.

This bowl had some deeply carved butterflies in it. The whole thing had a dip in Fake Ash, then I painted the butterflies with CR Yellow. The mottling of the Fake ash tends to obscure the surface patterns.

Bowl 18.

This bowl has a butterfly sculpted and added to the surface. The butterfly was painted with Wirts Shino, and Gold Shino. The rest was painted with Shanners Green, and I added stripes of Frog Belly to try to give a grass effect. Then right by the butterflies head I added a dollop of Pete's Red to make a kind of a flower. This turned out pretty good.

Bowl 19.

This bowl was dipped in Moshiko, then I painted Cushing's Black on the stamped areas, and a Gerstley Rutile 4 leafed clover in the middle. I like how vivid this bowl turned out.

Bowl 20.

This surface has a carved scene. The butterfly was rubbed with Delphinum blue stain. The grass was lined with a green underglaze. The flowers petals were done with gerstley rutile, and the flower's center was painted with 3D matte. The whole was then sprayed with Robin's Clear. Mostly this worked. I would have liked the grass to turn more green that the brown.

Bowl 21.

This bowl has carving around the butterflies. The butterflies were painted with mustard Terra sig., the flower was painted with gerstley rutile, then I did a wax resist over them, and dipped the bowl in Dark Celadon. Then I painted the rim with Shanners Green. This one I quite like.

Bowl 22.

This bowl I first did a tape pattern and painted with black engove before bisque firing. After it was bisque fired, I made a similiar tape pattern perpendicular to the original and dipped it in MAC white. Then I removed the tape and sprayed the whole surface with Robin's Clear. This was a very successful test. This was the class favorite bowl.

Well, that the basic data. I'd be happy to answer any questions about any specific bowl.