Two layer stencilling with slip at cone 4.

Hi, it's Bourne at westcobelpottery.ca in Nova Scotia, Canada. It's Sunday afternoon, the Superbowl should be on soon, but I'm actually throwing some mugs here and I'm going to make some simple stencil mugs with sort of lighthouses and whales and schooners on, so I thought I'd show you how I do it. You'd be using cutting stencils, you can use an exacto knife, and I just found some on timoo.com that I ordered and they look pretty good, so I'll try cutting with those blades and see how good they are. And then I have a scroll saw, which is an expensive version of cutting stencils for those people who don't want to spend $600 on a scroll saw, the exacto knives at like $10 are about the best you can get for cutting stencils. But if you have a tricutter, you can cut, I guess, try cutting with that. I've never tried it, but people have suggested I should try it and I never have. Stuck in the mud, doing the mud as I always have done, but I'm going to use some beemix clay here. I should show you outside, it's so cold. We haven't been above freezing for like five weeks now, maybe six, since the very beginning of January really. It's just a real Canadian winter this year. These are the bats that I use from Bill Wright, artisanpotterytools.com, so I'm going to be throwing on those and I have a drive bat down here that I attach them to. Okay, this is a shimpo whisper wheel that I throw on. This is a tiny little, I think it's like three and a half, four inches across at the most. Most of mine, I only have a couple of this size. Most of them are like four and a half inches across, I think. So beemix is cone five and it doesn't like to go above cone five, although I think some people do use it above five, but I've noticed that some glazes will crack from dunting if they're fired on to this clay at cone six. So I don't use this for anything but this type of work, which is the stencil work. The stencil recipe for slip is Robin Hopper's, which is in Ceramic Spectrum book and it's the cone 04, I think it's 04 to four recipe. And he also has one that will go up to cone 10, I think for slip, but I don't use that one. I have tried it and it works, but I love that one. It goes to cone four for this type of work, for sure. And there's a glaze recipe here in this video too that I use. So you'll have the slip and the glaze recipe here. Ceramic Spectrum book is magnificent. If you want to get a real Bible for pottery, there's so many good books and there's not enough time to read them all. I'm in the process of getting, I just got the new one, Food Safe Glaze. I think it's Amazing Glaze, Food Safe Glazes. I think I'm up to page 50 or 60 on that at the moment. So Beemix has always been my favorite clay to use. I just wish it would be better at cone six. That could be, well, it's a bit expensive to buy now, but I started using this clay in Columbus, Ohio when I lived right next to Columbus Clay Company by Bill and John. Or was it Dave and John? John, Dave and John. John, Dave and Bill. There's three of the guys there I used to know. They're still around. It just throws so well. There's no grog in this clay, which I know a lot of potters like to have a bit of grog in their clay. This is just like porcelain, really. Not good for my pug mill. This is one of the clays that makes the pug mill decompose in the barrel. It's so close to porcelain style. I think I just flared it out a touch. It needs to be like a real cylinder. I'm going to throw a bunch of these. About 26 of them. The great thing about that system here with the Bill made is all I have to do is this and go underneath. I wedge it up slowly because you've got two pins holding these down. You can throw a really thick base on the piece just to make sure you don't get any suction, but there's no suction in these. You just make sure your base is thick enough so the pinhole doesn't vacuum and pull the clay down into the pinhole. That's it. So, 26 of these. Okay, the mugs are bendable still because I just threw these. I mean, these are an hour to an hour and a quarter old, probably. Maybe an hour and a half at the most. It's cool in here, so it's not too hot. I haven't been firing kiln, although I just turned one on. So, I'm preheating at the moment. But I always put my handles on mugs like on a bat like this so I can actually do it in a sort of system, which means I'm more efficient about putting them on. And all I do is, because they're so soft, is I wet the surface of where it's going to go. Not at the bottom because it's really soft down there anyway, but the upper part is firmed up enough so I can put pressure on without denting it kind of thing. So, you just need to moisten it. No scoring and scratching. I have another paintbrush here, which I'll show you in a second. And my hands are a bit slippery, but let's see if I can grab this one up. I just pulled the handle, so my hands are wet. Okay, so flatten and fatten the end. Place it on. I... This is a toe preference. You just place it where you want. But basically, I put it up fairly high, about a centimeter from the top. And then just wiggling, pushing side to side until it feels like it stops moving. Then I just adapt it down, fold it down kind of thing. So I've actually got fingers about three. I could get four in there. Yeah, I can get four fingers in there. You do whatever you feel like you're comfortable with. Handles are personal choices, of course. And then I simply fold it up. I've got a nice extra wad there. So I place it there. So I've got a nice thick join, just like I do at the top there. And then I grab a little bit. Now, this is only because of the slip. You don't need to do this for regular pieces. I don't do it. But when I'm painting slip on, or spraying in this case, I actually place a small piece of clay in the join area down there. So I've got like a curve that isn't a sharp point. Because I noticed in the early days of doing this, I'd get a crack right in that area. And I thought it was the clay, but it wasn't. It was the slip. This slip recipe that is for the lower temperatures is actually only about 60% clay. And then you've got a lot of frit in there and silica, which makes the clay... It's not as plastic, I guess. The slip wouldn't be as plastic. And it tends to shrink at a different weight to the actual pot. So I just modified my... I can pull a piece off. I modified my approach to limit the fact that you potentially get a crack in that little area. If you actually get cracks like that in your pottery down there, you can just do this technique anyway to kind of give yourself a curve rather than a sharp point. We also use vinegar sometimes. I don't anymore because I've done it enough to know how to do it. In the early days, I would use vinegar to join handles on. It actually increased the plasticity, I think, of the clay. It does something because it thickens slip for sure. See, I think that's a bit small, so I tried pushing it up a bit. These pieces are very soft. Is that straight? I have to look. It's pretty good. So I always keep a little bit of clay here so I can actually put that little piece right in the join area. So it's literally going in right there. You see it? And then what I do to make sure it's actually firm, is I get my thumb a little slippery with water, put the paintbrush or a throwing rib would work there as well. And then I can push in by pushing from the inside too. Push in a side to side kind of thing so I can smudge the clay in. And that other paintbrush I have here is to push that piece down. Don't get water in between the piece and the actual part. But I push it down and smooth like that. And it makes it so that you've got a gentle curve rather than a sharp point. And then the slip doesn't sort of attach. If you didn't have this and you just have that sharp V, the slip would be stuck to the part and also the handle. And it tends to get a crack right across the center there as they pull apart. Shrinkage. So this way it doesn't do that. Now I also, because I'm making these with... I'm airbrushing them probably twice. And they get very soft after you've airbrushed a new layer of slip on the top. And if you dip them, you need to definitely do this. I actually place a piece of clay on the top of the handle. And if you're really good about pulling handles, you can possibly pull the handle so thick where you snap it off at the top that you don't need to add that piece of clay. I've always just done that because it's not that big a deal. So I add a little extra on top there. But I know when I'm pulling the handle, I often think about that and think, you know, maybe I should just pull shorter handles with a really fat edge at the top. But I just thicken it up like that anyway. What it does is it soaks in the slip a little bit more so that you don't get this super soft area on the top and the handle just falls off. And once again, place your handle and then put your brush inside and push down. And I try to push into the pot and push back with the paintbrush on the inside so you've got that pressure coming back at your area. And then also notice, make sure your paintbrush isn't dirty if you're using white clay because you'll get a smudgy mark inside your pot. I've done that and, as they say, done that being there. And it looks nasty, especially if you're using a clear glaze. Same again here. Make sure your handle is straight to cross side to side. Now, I don't know whether this is faster. I've always felt that it's faster than doing this rather than pulling handles off the pots themselves, which I know a lot of potters will just pull the handle right off the pot. This seems like it's a quicker method of putting handles on. And this is what it looks like outside. Cape Le Havre is on the way out to the fishing banks and it's breaking through all the ice in the river. That might actually remove a lot of this ice because then when the tide moves, it might take it all out. And they're all excited because they know that boat has fish sometimes. But happy fishing for these guys. It's a risky, dangerous life they're doing. Okay, this is the scroll saw that my latest purchased about a couple of years back. I bought this and this is the one that costs about 600 plus dollars. I bought cheaper versions that, you know, last a while, but they always break. And I assume this one will too one day. But what I do is I draw my shapes and then I cut them out using the scroll saw and I had to modify it. So I put a piece of wood right here with a tiny hole in it, taped it down so that there's a big hole under there which the paper just falls in. So I had to make a little bed to put the paper on and then it cuts a little better. Wow, I don't know what that was. We've got ice all over the roof so it's falling off the building. So here's some, you know, stencils that I cut. There's some crows there that I've cut out as well. Scour the internet for images for when I'm working on things. But anyway, so that's how I would say is the best way of cutting it. And you can cut 40 at a time where it will actually work without, you know, breaking the blade because the blade snaps every so often you have to replace it. That's always a pain, but that's the one way. The other way of cutting is just using an exacto knife and I just bought these from Timu. So if you search exacto knives or scalpel knives, this was cheap. It was $10 for three knives and there's 50 blades in each pack there. So that's a lot of blades. So it's definitely... And then you just draw the paper out. You can only cut maybe 10, 15 using newsprint or something laid on top of each other. So it's possible to cut the stencils by hand. And if they're very simple, you can just use a pair of scissors. So I have an assortment of stencils here that I've cut out. And I think there's boats, seagulls, lighthouse. And then under here, I have even more. So I really cut out a lot and then store them until I need them. But these are all telephone book paper and I'm just going to apply them now. And there's a way like every time. So I dip my finger in water. So I've got some water here. Let's see if I can show you a bit more. And there's a paper lighthouse. I dip it, sit it on a sponge or a varnished piece of wood would be fine. And I just get the paper wet. The reason for that is the paper expands and it actually will get wrinkles in it. If the paper is small, it doesn't seem to do that. So you just have to make a guess of whether the paper is too big and it might wrinkle. And then once it's actually floppy, let's turn you up a bit. So you can see it's wet. You place it on the surface where you want it to go. And then it will just sort of, you know, soaks in. That one, if you couldn't see with my fingers in the way. So there's one on the other side too there. And you have to count what you have. Because when you apply a layer of slip or underglaze, it's hard to see them. Now the smaller ones, as I said, like this boat here, it would get too floppy if it was totally wet. So I just hold the stencil so it doesn't have a chance to kind of flop. And then I place it wherever I want it to go. Okay, so then I'm going to put the birds. And I'm going to do some, they're going to be out of proportion. But I decided to use the big birds. They're just closer to the viewer. I have small ones I could put on here. But I think when we do the large version birds. These are hard to cut too with that scroll saw. So this is one place I might even consider using the exacto knife to cut. Because these are really floppy and hard to hold. So you've got to count sun, bird, bird, bird. And we've got sun, bird, bird, bird. And then sun, bird, bird, bird. So we know what we'd have to look for. And to get them to be permanently down. Because if I airbrush these, which means spraying, you know, spray glue with slip. The airbrush is, you know, high pressure air pointing at the piece. And it can blow the paper and lift it up again. So really push them right in. And I use the heel of the brush to actually push down. This is a spray booth. And I've actually shown how to build a spray booth in a video about a year or two ago. And how to make one that's actually almost 100% efficient. Because I have in this little box to the left of it. I have six furnace filters. Like the one that's on the outside there. Which is completely almost blocked up. And then inside that there's another one. And then about six inches from there, there's another two. And then six inches from there, there's another two. Until you get to the fan that goes outside. So when I'm picking the stencils off, I'm really trying to push the pin in sideways. So it doesn't make a bullet hole in the shape. You can see the edge. You catch the light which is right above the piece. So it casts a shadow over the edge. So I've done an assortment of stencils. When the slip is almost dry, on a rim there it's pretty much dry. You can still paint this slip onto the surface. It doesn't flake off. Because it's actually about 40% flux. It uses Frit 3110, Potash Felspar. Actually that's only 20% flux because the rest is silica. So it's got 40% ball clay, 20% APK, 20% silica, and 10% Frit 3110 and 10% Potash Felspar. And it's those fluxes that enable it to stay on the surface. You do this, right? That's on the belfry. Do a little sgraffito. I mean there's no end of the detail you could do. Anyway, that's the stenciling. They just have to dry now and I'll trim them. And then basically put a clear glaze on and I'll show you what they look like in the kiln. And out of the kiln. Okay, we get to see the mugs. So this is what I fired a cone for. And the boys recipe is in the video. It's a very amazingly clear glaze which I've used for, oh my gosh, since 1986, 87, somewhere around then when I was given it by Tom Finney. And then I changed it and modified it with an Ashworks glaze from Phil Harris and Scheisel Harris. And their recipe was cloudy. Tom Finney's was wonderfully clear. So I mixed the two together and we got this. So you can tell it's clear because when you do a black piece, it is totally black because you can see any kind of air bubbles in a glaze over black most. And that's why I can, you know, this is wonderful glaze. When I use it over blue, as in this video doing the stencil pieces, this is what it looks like. And it's really a nice blue. That's actually a cobalt slip. It has 3% cobalt oxide in it, which gives me that dark blue. Such a small amount of cobalt, but it gives you a great blue. So these are all similar, except for the stencils are often whales or seascape, lighthouses, schooners. I've got some schooners, I think, at the bottom of the kiln. So I'm going to show you the rest of these. They're actually all duplicates. Next layer down, I've got another black and white carved piece. I just made another, prepared another 12 of these to carve during the next week. They're nice to do if you've got an odd few minutes. You know, you can just simply sit and carve very peacefully. And then in here I have the other glaze that I use at this kiln for, which is a rutile cobalt mix. To give it the blue tint and sort of cloudiness, because I don't want it to be totally clear when I do this glaze. I actually call it Nova Scotia mist because when I do schooners and stuff, it looks like they're in the fog. But that's the other one. And I think the others will be the dark blue. And then this is a good example of this glaze. It actually gives a sort of dark edge to the shapes too, which is really nice. But I really, I live in a place that gets fog. Moisture. Good hair day, or is that a bad hair day? Anyway, we'll look at the next layer down. The bottom of this kiln has the same Nova Scotia mist all the way down. And there you can see where I had a run as I was glazing it. And that's how cloudy it will get if you apply it thick. But I keep it fairly thin. Look at that, perfect. Looks like the fog. More of those. They're all whales. That one got close to the edge of the elements and it sort of dried the glaze out a little bit. I always have to watch out for that. Anything else? No, it's all the same. Well, you saw me making these and now you see what they look like when they come out of the kiln. That's interesting, the same glaze but one facing the kiln maybe and the other one not facing the kiln. That's the difference. The Morandi's red does that, remember, as well. Goes brown and then red, depending on what part's closest to the elements. I like that side better, actually. All right, okay, so let's see. So I hope you, you know, if you want to try stenciling, just find regular paper that lasts more than is meant to last. Like telephone book paper is good. Magazine paper can work, but newsprint tends to break down too easily when it's taking the stencils off. So just, that's the main key, and then cut them any way you want, basically. Just make sure you apply them with the moisture in the paper already there. So laying them out on a damp board and spraying them is a good way, then picking them up and putting them on. And of course, if you do things that are really hard to cut, like giraffe legs or horse legs, which they do, but they're really hard. You have to be very patient and be willing to lose some, because it's hot. It's easy with big shapes, but detailed little paper shapes can get really fiddly, really tiny little fingers. Anyway, hope you like it. Let me know, and hope your spring is coming soon for you. We've still got a foot of snow on the ground, so, and it's really packed down hard at this point, but we're above freezing three days out of seven this week, so we're getting there. We had a light snowfall overnight, just an inch or so, but it was quite a sticky snowfall, and it's made everything look winter wonderland again. So the vegetable garden, I don't think anything's going to do well this time of year, but anyway, it looks very pretty. I thought we'd take a look at what Jackie's doing. I don't know if she's in her studio at the moment, but everything's a little crisp and white this morning. Very pretty. We call this the mountain house now, because we have to climb up to it. There's some deer tracks in the snow. We have, we think we have a wild cat going around too, because we've seen large cat prints. They're not raccoons, you can tell the difference there, because they have the little spiky claws at the end. We have a metal roof on this building, so you have to be careful because snow falls down onto you sometimes. We like looking into that. I think it reminds me a little bit of the Black Forest in Germany. Although I've never been there, this is what I imagine it would look like. Now we've got to get into Jackie's room. So let's see what Miss Jackie's been up to. She's, you know, this studio is a year and a half old now, so she's really moved into here, and she spends most of the winter. You can see the river is frozen up out the window there. It's actually salt water, because it's actually the bay. As soon as you get past here, it's real water, real salt water. So she has a variety of things that she's been doing, playing with some small pieces there. Here's a little watercolor she did recently. And then she's got some studies. She uses some abstract kind of technique for doing some studies, which she never knows if they're going to lead to anything. And there's two canvases that are on the... Let's see if you can get closer, you can see the color. These are on the way to being done. They look nice already. The color's really pretty. So Jackie's a painter that never had... She doesn't have what I would call a technique where she can just jump right into it and produce a piece. She experiments and does studies constantly, so does a lot of trial and error type things. There you go, you can see the river from here in the studio. So this year, it's the first time in 11 years that the river has frozen up like this. So they said we have the coldest winter in 20 years, although it's not the whole winter. There was just one part that was super cold. So she's got things all over the floor. As I said, she just experiments and then some things lead to something and others just get basically torn up and used as collages. They all have elements of imagery that Jackie has kind of become like a vocabulary for her. It evolves over the years, but basically you can tell it's a Jackie piece when you see it. This one has been ongoing since December and it's now February 5th or 6th. I think it's the 6th today. And I know she says she's very close on these two to having them finished. So this is about a, oh, I would say that's a 24-inch square painting. This one has been ongoing for a long time. I think it's probably six months old at this point, then she's still working a bit of the time on it. It's gone through a lot of changes. I think this is my favorite. It's like Lunenburg next town over. It's like piggledy-piggledy old houses bundled together. And that's why I think she's inspired there. And then there's a large watercolor, it looks like. Maybe it's watercolor and gouache. Her table, as you can see, it's covered. As every artist's studio tends to do. That's a little Christmas present I bought her last year, a little rack for her to put her stuff on. And the last piece here. This is an ongoing piece that's a little different. She's been doing it for, I would say, two months now. Working on it whenever the inspiration takes her. So it's becoming to, it's resolving. It was a very fuzzy painting at first. I would say that it covers a large depth of field there, but basically she's been doing everything very kind of minimal contrast to see how far she can get without, you know, just using black in paint to make it pop. And I think it's starting to happen. Anyway, that keeps you in touch with Jackie. So hope you like that. Hope I wasn't too long-winded.