I sold out my first batch of cat food dishes, so I started working on the next batch. I’ve implemented a number of process improvements, and I thought I’d gotten the total hands-on time per dish down to one hour, forty minutes… but then, I picked up the first half from the glaze kiln. The results were not quite as expected.

Take this piece, for example. This is my “Striped Cat” stencil, and I wanted to paint it as a brown and black tabby. I’ve been using Stroke & Coat (S&C) glazes for these as they are stable (i.e., they don’t flow and create a mess when firing) and glossy, but their color often changes dramatically from kiln to kiln. For example, most of the pinks burn out to beige at Cone 6 kiln temperatures, which is necessary for vitrification (and for food safety). So I’ve developed a custom pink blend using Cotton Tail white and Candy Apple red, and that took a bit of trial and error to figure out.

Likewise, some of the browns are real chameleons, and this brown did not work out at all. In fact, it kinda looks green. Also, I painted the eyes white instead of using yellow, blue, brown, or green. I’m not sure what I was thinking because I actually have four sweet kee-kees and I know that they don’t have the white sclera that human eyes do. That’s where the color should be, in fact. 

So, this dish will need to be re-glazed and then refired. I’m thinking I will try using one of my proven beige S&C glazes, Cashew Later, to try to tone down the green and lighten my brown tabby coat. When it goes back into the glaze kiln, the original glaze (which is now hardened glass) will melt again and blend in with the new coats of glaze. When all is said and done, it should be a much more acceptable combination.

As for the eyes, because there is a layer of Cotton Tail white down already, anything I use will be lightened by the white. I’m thinking that a darker S&C blue like Moody Blue is the best way to go here, since that will come out in the sky blue range, which is in the acceptable range for blue-eyed cats.