While I’ve been waiting for my website theme template issues to get resolved by the developer, I was busy working on my Secret Project. I had to build the platter three times due to various misfortunes, but the third time was the charm. It came out of bisque kiln intact and was waiting on my shelf July 4th.

I’ve been working on the glazing ever since.

July 4th: Glazing the Back

I have a weekly 2-hour open studio session at Norris Arts in Camas, and so the first session was devoted to glazing the back of the platter. I wanted to start with that as I had planned to apply a solid sheet of the recipient’s favorite color all across the back. My plan was to use underglazes as they do not run and I could approach the project like a paint-by-numbers painting. I haven’t used underglazes before, so I was eager to try them out and see what I could do.

The studio has a pretty decent selection of Amaco’s Velvet Underglaze colors, and they can be easily mixed to make more shades. That was important because the recipient’s favorite color was not available as a stand-alone choice, and so I had to mix it on my palette. I had to do two coats, and naturally I didn’t mix enough glaze for both coats so I had to mix up a second batch, hoping to match my first mix, which took a little finessing — and the entire 2-hour session.

Now granted, before I could start glazing, I had to sand the rough spots, wipe it down thoroughly to remove all the dust, and then wax the platter foot rings so the glaze wouldn’t stick to the kiln shelf. It’s a big platter (18×12 inches), so all that prep work took the better part of the first hour.

July 11th: Pumpkins & Leaves

This session was devoted to laying down the groundwork for the front of the platter. It’s a detailed autumnal design that was made using a pumpkin patch roller and various cookie cutters, silicone molds, and rubber stamps to engrave the scene. The plate is personalized with the recipient’s last name along the bottom border, and that was pressed into the wet clay using rubber stamps. So it really looks like a paint-by-numbers project, with all of the outlines just waiting to be filled in. But unlike a paint-by-numbers canvas, this had no color guide. I would have to choose the colors — and, in many cases, I would need to mix up custom colors.

I had purchased some silicone bottles with fine metal tips so I could fill in all the lines neatly and really get detailed with my composition. The problem, of course, is that there is a lot of detail to paint in, and after two hours, it really didn’t look like I did much. But there’s always next week, right?

July 18th: More Pumpkins, Leaves, & Supporting Cast

Time to paint the pumpkins! And the leaves. And the fence behind the pumpkins. And the grass. And the name on at the bottom of the platter. And the “supporting cast” of special characters that are going to make this gift really special for the recipient. You see, this autumnal scene features some very special characters from pop culture which are near and dear to the recipient’s heart. They are also copyrighted, but I’m not particularly concerned about that because this platter is a personal gift and I won’t be making any money from it. Moreover, the plate is personalized with a family name and has limited value to anyone without this last name. I expect it will either break at some point or be passed onto other family members freely, rather than sold. 

In addition, I used cookie cutters and stamps that were licensed by the artist, and so the artist did get a royalty from those sales. Otherwise, the only other people who received any sort of financial benefit from making this platter is Georgies (for the clay) and Amaco (for the glaze). So before anyone says anything about “are you allowed to make this?” I’m saying, “Yes I can!” because this is closer to fan fiction than profiting off someone else’s work.

Today’s studio session moved me much closer to the end goal, but I still need to finish up the sky and the border. I also want to go back over some of the lines and add more shades of color to the leaves. So tune in next week for another installment of Secret Project Glazing.

July 25: What Color is the Sky?

It’s Groundhog Day all over again, and I am back at the studio to try to wrap this secret project up and send it off the the kiln. I left off last week with the sky and the border still unpainted, and a lot of touch-up work. First I tackled the sky, which turned out to be a bit of a challenge, to say the least. The studio’s blue underglaze is like a royal blue… which isn’t the color of the sky. So I would need to do a custom mix, and I really wanted to hit that sweet spot of making enough of my sky color to do the whole thing with the same batch, but not having to throw out a ton of unused glaze. Having been at this for a few weeks now, I had a pretty good feel for how much glaze to mix up to fill in the sky, and after applying it all over the plate (including in-between each of the fence rails), I had just enough for touch-ups next week.

That’s right — next week. Because this platter has a border with a gazillion little cartoon characters running around it, and each little critter had to be outlined in black, and then filled in with color. That’s 53 individual bits of anime that needed lots of attention. Yes, I counted them, and yes, there are 53 of these little guys and gals dancing through my dreams each night. At least the star of the show is just one large image in the center of the plate, and I finished him up last week.

So this week, I was able to paint the sky blue with fluffy clouds, and detail all 53 of his sidekicks around the inner border. But I still needed to do the outer border, and I still needed to do the final touch-ups. So tune in next week for what has to be the final installment of this odyssey.

August 1st: Off to the Kiln!

One of my studio pals started off this week’s session by imitating a documentary narrator: “Tune in for hour 400 as we continue glazing this platter…” and someone else chimed in with “It’s déjà vu all over again.”  This is why I love going to open studio — we have such a good vibe going!

Today I tackled the outer rim border, which is a geometric pattern of diamonds. Then I went back and carefully looked over everything else, using damp cotton swabs to clean up drops of glaze and filling in little areas that I had missed. I went back over the letters in the family name at the bottom of the platter again with another layer of color, and then I sponged off a few fingerprints I had inadvertently placed on the back of the platter while holding it to work on the front side.

After talking with our kiln tech, I decided to send the platter back through the bisque kiln again before applying the final three layers of clear gloss glaze and sending it through the Cone 6 kiln firing that will fully vitrify this platter and make it dishwasher and dinnerware safe. The reason we’re going to do this is because sometimes the clear gloss can smear the underglaze, and this platter has so much fine detail that it would really suck to have it come out of the kiln looking smeared and fuzzy. By putting it through bisque again, the underglaze will bake in and can’t be smeared or smudged as I apply the clear topcoat. 

It’s worth an extra week of waiting for that.

So, if the kiln gods smile down on this project, I will get to the studio next Friday and be able to apply the topcoat, and send it off for the final firing. Which means I will have the final product in my hands on Friday, August 15th. And that means I will finally reveal the entire platter — including all the process photos I’ve been taking, as well as the identity of the lucky recipient of all of this effort. Stay tuned!