Using Slip In Ceramics

There are three advantages to using slips.

Using slip in ceramics.

Some potters save the slips that remain when throwing other pieces. A slip is a liquid mixture or slurry of clay and or other materials suspended in water. Today i am presenting another super fun slip decorating technique that reminds me of putting icing on a cake. One of the basic techniques learned by ceramic students is score and slip.

Slips are best used on wet greenware. There are so many methods for decorating pottery with slip from slip trailing to mishima. Roll out a slab of clay. In ceramics the clay is shaped into vases figures and models then fired in a kiln and decorated.

Using pipettes or eye droppers drop small amounts of slip of another color on top. Brushing slip onto pots is one of the oldest methods of delivering slips to a pottery surface. Firstly to form the basic shape by slipcasting with moulds. Slip casting is the process of filling the molds with slip which is the liquid clay allowing it to solidify and after a while forming a layer called the cast inside of the mold s walls.

Cover the slab with a thin layer of slip. It has many uses in the production of pottery and other ceramic wares. A slip a liquefied suspension of clay particles in water can also be used to color clay pottery prior to firing. Of dry clay blend will yield 10 gallons of slip.

When decorating pottery slips can be applied to ware using brushes. You can use either white slips or colored slips tinted with oxides. You must dilute this amount with a like amount of water. Score and slip allows the artist to join two pieces of clay together using nothing but the clay and water.

Clay blend 100 lbs. The brushed decoration can range from very delicate lines done with fluid fine particle slip to an overall layer of heavy. Like its cousin glaze trailing slip trailing applies material in lines using a slip trailer or other applicator. This happens because the mold absorbs the water from the slip through its pores collecting the ceramic particles against the mold.

Chris lively applies thick slips to his leather hard pots and then uses various tools to sculpt and shape it much like a pastry chef would work with icing. This is best done when the clay is damp or leather hard. This has been extremely important for several centuries and secondly to protect or decorate the pottery which is. Slip trailing is a great way to use clay slip as a decorative tool.

Using colored slips or different clay bodies with the same firing temperature you can also try this process on clay. In pottery the two most important uses of slip are. The big difference is that this ceramic decorating technique not only adds lines and patterns but it also creates a raised surface texture that adds tactility to the decoration. Remember start with the minimum amounts shown below.