The Breakables Live Model Horse Show specifically for china
horses (and other animals) is fast approaching.
The date is Thursday July 16 at the Clarion Hotel in Lexington
KY. Info, entry details and class lists are here:
The theme of the show is "Vive la France".
Meg Walker Originals will have a challenge class this year. The
awards will be 1st-3rd place hand built clay tiles with
different French horse breeds on them. They will be 90% over glazed in full
color and have a beaded hanger. The awards can also be put on a small table easel
for display. They are about 4.5 x 6 inches in size.
The tiles are in the leather hard stage right now and drying
so that they can have their first firing in the kiln. I made Fleur-de-lis and
square pattern stamps for the border design.
The plaques were stamped while the clay was wet and then the
horses were “sketched” into the clay in low relief. Here is a sneak peak of the awards in
process:
The clay will turn from gray to a white color after firing
and be ready for glazing.
The Awards for the 2015 Breakables Live Show - Meg Walker Originals Challenge Class have now had their first firing in the kiln. Before a clay piece can be fired, it has to be bone dry or it can crack and break in the high temperatures of the kiln.
Before the first firing, the clay piece is called "greenware" (even though it isn't green in color). Greenware is brittle and fragile. Once dried and fired, the greenware usually becomes very much lighter in color and much less fragile.
After the first firing, which is usually to a higher temperature than the glaze firing, the clay piece is called "bisque ware". The clay used for the awards turned white with a very slight peach tint to it after the first firing.
This is what the awards look like after becoming bisque:
The Awards for the 2015 Breakables Live Show - Meg Walker Originals Challenge Class have now had their first firing in the kiln. Before a clay piece can be fired, it has to be bone dry or it can crack and break in the high temperatures of the kiln.
Before the first firing, the clay piece is called "greenware" (even though it isn't green in color). Greenware is brittle and fragile. Once dried and fired, the greenware usually becomes very much lighter in color and much less fragile.
After the first firing, which is usually to a higher temperature than the glaze firing, the clay piece is called "bisque ware". The clay used for the awards turned white with a very slight peach tint to it after the first firing.
This is what the awards look like after becoming bisque:
gain.
The underglaze color is on the bisqued tiles. Only the eyes, the darker shaded areas and areas with tiny detail were underglazed. After firing the underglaze on the bisque, the tiles will be overglazed and finished.
Over glazes go on top of under glazes and they have a pigment in them that lets you know where you have put them on the bisque. The pigment is most often NOT what the actual color will be.
This is the Auxois Horse award with the over glaze on it before firing it again.
With an image like this, I use underglaze like oil paint, but I have to work knowing what the color will be instead of seeing it. This tile has 10 different over glaze colors on it.
And this is what the tile looks like after firing: