How does it work?
The technique I use is called overglaze painting. This means that I buy white porcelain, already glazed and use special paints to paint on top of the glaze. Then the object is fired in a special kiln between 680-880 degrees Celcius. The paint will fuse with the glaze and the object is dishwasher safe*
Depending on one's own artistic abilities one can draw (with a special pen) or paint the image directly on the porcelain or one can copy pictures with carbon paper and then colour them in.
In order to obtain intense colours, it is often necessary to apply several layers of a colour, firing the piece inbetween.
The colours are made up of powder pigments mixed with oils and they need to be rubbed carefully to prevent lumps of powder in the paint. Mixing the paints always makes me feel a little bit like a witch mixing potions. It is important to work in a room with little dust as the wet paint will attract dust particles that will show up after firing.
Depending on one's own artistic abilities one can draw (with a special pen) or paint the image directly on the porcelain or one can copy pictures with carbon paper and then colour them in.
In order to obtain intense colours, it is often necessary to apply several layers of a colour, firing the piece inbetween.
The colours are made up of powder pigments mixed with oils and they need to be rubbed carefully to prevent lumps of powder in the paint. Mixing the paints always makes me feel a little bit like a witch mixing potions. It is important to work in a room with little dust as the wet paint will attract dust particles that will show up after firing.
The firing takes roughly 6-8 hours and the kiln should be left to cool down to about 80 degrees C before opening it. This also takes about 8 hours. So the whole process of designing, copying or transferring the design onto the porcelain and firing is a lengthy one.
On top of that there are some colours that "don't go together" turning into a muddy brown after firing. So opening my kiln after a night of firing still has a certain magical feel about it: What will it look like? Does it come out as I meant it to be or have the colours faded or gone grey/brown? Is nothing broken?
On top of that there are some colours that "don't go together" turning into a muddy brown after firing. So opening my kiln after a night of firing still has a certain magical feel about it: What will it look like? Does it come out as I meant it to be or have the colours faded or gone grey/brown? Is nothing broken?
This kiln only has one layer of pottery in it. To fill the kiln a special ceramic board will be put on top of the 3 supports that are visisble in the picture and more pottery or china will be placed on that, layering with supports and boards till the kiln is full.
*(depending a little bit on your dishwasher and the detergent that you use. I have used some of my home painted china for 10 years now and it has hardly faded. )