Hi Marie here, back with another fun Pottery making video.
In this video I'm going to show you how to Sponge Glaze.
Sponge Glazing is another cool way to decorate your pottery that creates a
unique look. For this project, I have a Sponge,
Strainer, some Lids, Containers. You'll need a shallow one.
A few Mugs, a Banding Wheel, some Wax Resist,
some Glazes,
a Fan Brush,
a Mixer, and some Water.
Everything you need to Sponge Glaze is listed down below in the show notes.
Let's get started.
Before glazing, I'm wiping my Mug down with a clean damp sponge.
This gets any dust particles off and helps to ensure that the glaze bonds
nicely to your piece.
Then apply a little Wax Resist so you're not struggling to get the glaze off the
bottom of your Mug. I like to use Wax On.
And always make sure you use a separate brush.
You just need a thin coat.
When choosing your glazes for sponging you want to look at the back
and see if the directions say Float or Flow or Break.
You want your glaze to be stable when you're sponging.
You want the pattern to stay where you put it.
Before you start sponging you need to apply a base coat.
I'm going to use the Amaco Obsidian for my base coat.
Always make sure you mix your glaze well
and put it through a strainer.
This catches any clumps or debris that may be lurking in your glaze.
It's a good habit to get into. I also mix my glaze
with a mixer, I like using this milk brother.
It works really good for small batches of glaze.
It gives my glaze a real nice smooth consistency which is
very important,
and I like the little stand it comes with.
Now that the glaze is nice and mixed I'm going to
pour it on the inside and apply three coats to the outside to give it a nice
smooth
undercoat.
Pour the glaze in the Mug then rotate as you're pouring it out.
Let the glaze flow down so it doesn't pool on the bottom
and apply a coat.
Just let the glaze float on, don't be afraid to load up your brush
load it on.
If you're having any problems with glazing let me know in the comments
section below. Float it on.
You want a nice thick coat.
And let it dry.
Now that it's dry apply a second coat and this time vertically. This helps to
get rid of any streaks or marks on your glaze.
We can just speed this up here.
Now that the Obsidian is dry I'm going to sponge glaze it
with the Amaco Snow, I also glazed a Mug with the Amaco Snow
and I'll sponge glaze it with the Cobalt Blue.
First thing you want to do is choose your sponge.
and there are many sponges to choose from.
This one has a cool pattern to it.
This sponge has bigger holes
and give you a different texture. And this sponge has smaller holes.
I like this one, I'll sponge with this one.
I already mixed the Amaco Snow
and now we can start sponging.
We'll get a little closer. You want your sponge to be damp and hold
on to it like this for more of a
controlled pattern.
Before I sponge my glaze onto the Mug I'm going to dab it onto the lid
to see the pattern that I want. This is too
thick I'm not creating a pattern. Now I can see that I'm starting to form,
I like that. That's what I'm going to do. Just start
dabbing.
You want to overlap but not too much because you don't want to cover up the
pattern and make it too thick. You can see it's
starting to get thin so you just dab a little more
and then dab it onto the lid next. That looks good, and then
back on to the Mug. It looks pretty good.
Onto the glaze, then the lid.
That looks good.
And continue to go around the whole Mug. I also have an
article on sponge glazing with more information
and tips that you can check out. I left a link for you in the description below.
I like that.
Careful not to handle it too much either.
I'll continue to go all the way around
and fire it at Cone 5.
Now I have the Mug that's been glazed with Amaco snow
and I'm going to sponge some Amaco Cobalt
on it.
Shape my sponge, dab it in the Cobalt, and then on my lid
to see the pattern, like that. It's a nice pattern, and start
sponging. Work my way all the way around. Remember don't overlap too much. You
don't want to
make your pattern too thick
then you can't see the cool pattern it makes.
Dab on to keep it even. Looks good.
That's a nice pattern.
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I'll finish sponging and fire at Cone 5.
Here's the Amaco Obsidian with the Snow and the Snow with the Cobalt Blue.
I like the pattern that the sponge produces it adds a dimension to the
pottery. There are different ways that you can
sponge glaze. This is just one fun way you can do it.
Head on over to my other videos because when you do
it helps me to keep playing with clay and making these fun videos for you.
Keep creating that beautiful pottery.