It was bisque fired to cone 06. Then I brushed on a thin coat of clear glaze. I brushed on the glaze rather than dipping the plate in it because there are very few true clear glazes. Most of them have some sort of color where they are a bit thicker. By brushing it on I have better control over how thickly I want the glaze applied over my underglaze design. The plate was then fired to cone 6.
Unfortunately, the final firing caused some of my underglazes to fade out a bit more than I would have liked, which is why I'm currently running a test of all the Amaco Velvet Underglazes in my current collection:
Of course, this is something I should have done before. But we all get lazy once in a while. The lesson is, when we're lazy we wind up paying the price with our final product.
Since one of the fade-outs was on the baby's name, I ran out and bought a tube of Pebeo Vitria 160. This is a type of very low fire "glaze" you can put on glass, metal, or glazed ceramics. You let it cure for 24 hours and then bake in an oven at 300 degrees F (160C) for 40 minutes. I used a dimensional black, which brought out the name quite nicely. However, I don't think I would use this on anything other than a decorative piece, since there's no indication of whether or not this substance is food safe.
We gifted the plate last night. The photo will go into my etsy shop as an example of a custom baby plate, along with three more of David's drawings.
All in all, I'm pleased with the process. I've even used a few colors in a vase I just made, creating a sunset background to a flock of sgraffitoed cranes. Do I sense a new direction for more of my work? We'll see!
