Because bisque fired clay is very porous, I can anticipate that my dark lines will stick to the surface while I work on top of them with glazes - though sometimes I lose a few. Here, I used an ash glaze; a glaze that includes wood ash as a main component. Ash glazes tend toward soft, warm, earthy colors. Because they are sometimes created with nearly 50% ash, they are often difficult to apply because the ash absorbes the water in the glaze. In this piece, I wanted to create a wash of color that would help to visually unify the seperate images and balance the visual weight by drawing the viewer away from the figure - if only for a brief moment. My solution was to prop the tiles and sling the slurry-like glaze onto the suface. What a mess!
With a heavy application, this glaze is a soft Naples yellow. Where thin, the glaze tends toward brown. Both colors are appealling, but all yellow or all brown wasn't what I wanted. Since 'slinging' glaze is not the preferred method of application, I knew I would have to pray for the best and live with the results. |