I unloaded the bisque firing today. Probably during the hottest part of the day. I had a few piggy banks that needed some underglaze application and I was more than happy to do it in the comfort of our air conditioned studio. It's such a treat to work in an air conditioning!!!
I thought I would share the process of creating my "whimsical flower pig" design. When the piggy bank is leather hard I apply a white slip and carve the flower design through the surface of the clay. I then bisque fire to cone 06 and after that, apply underglaze.
I brush black underglaze into all of the carved lines. As you can see, I am not too concerned with precision!
Once all the piggy banks have been underglazed, I go back and give the area a wipe with a moist sponge, to remove the excess.
I am not too fussy with the sponging. I like to leave some of the underglaze behind for a sort of "smudgy" look. I then dip the bottom half of the pigs in our Temple white glaze, the upper half in our gloss green. The overlap creates a nice pink blush. These are fired in a reduction atmosphere to cone 10. Our gas kiln typically takes anywhere from 12 - 16 hours to fire.
I also can personalize these piggy banks with names or phrases. Check out my Etsy shop for more information.
