A while back I posted some pictures of a new technique I was experimenting with using acrylic medium. I loved how the piece came out (I thought I had a picture of it on my memory disk, but apparently I was mistaken), but unfortunately it was slightly warped. Well, not so unfortunate for me, since I’ll keep it and wear it! Anyway, I had about 10 minutes to spare yesterday afternoon, so I pulled out a few pendants that I cut out the other day.
My goal is to create painterly designs on my pendants that are also textured, so that the glaze will pool in the recesses and “break” over the raised areas.

For the piece on the left, I began by painting the entire piece with a very pale pink underglaze. I then used a darker pink and created a rough gradation of color on the pendant. Then, for both pieces, I painted my design freehand with the acrylic gel medium and a liner brush. I set them aside and let them dry.
The next step is to gently wipe the piece with a damp sponge. The goal is to remove the areas of clay that are not protected by the medium. This will give me a raised effect. You need to proceed carefully; if you are too ambitious, you can wipe the resist right off the clay and end up with some broken lines.
This clay is a white earthenware, so the areas that are gray now will be white. This piece will have a clear glaze coat.

I’m very excited about how this piece will turn out. I’ve been wanting to emulate cherry blossoms for awhile, and I believe this just might be the technique.
The pieces will first go through a bisque firing (where the gel medium will get burned off), then they’ll get glazed. You can use a similar technique on bisqued pieces if you are using underglazes. You won’t get the raised effect, but you can get distinct lines of colors using this method.
If you check out the July/August 2010 issue of Pottery Making Illustrated, they demonstrate this technique using shellac. Acrylic medium isn’t nearly as toxic, plus the brushes clean easily with soap and water (thanks again to Kristen Kieffer for sharing this technique on her DVD).
I was getting ready to order some victorian ceiling tiles to use for texture sheets and had an epiphany: I can get similar textures by using this technique on a slab of clay. Did I mention that I love my slab roller???
Stay cool, if you can. I’m thinking that I could put my greenware out on the deck today and have bisque pieces tonight, just laying them in the sun.