Opalescents Over Velvets I

Steve Lampron, AMACO® Vice President of Technical Services, writes about Opalescent Glazes Over Velvet Underglaze Combinations

George Debikey applied this technique in his creation of “Fish Bowl”. Colors used were Velvet Underglaze V-366 Teddy Bear Brown and Opalescent Glaze O-20 Bluebell.

The technique of utilizing a base layer of Velvet underglazes, covered with an Opalescent glaze, brings out the true beauty of the Opalescent glazes. The technique is simple yet offers some wonderful results. The process consists of making a form, which can be either vigorously and deeply carved, or very subtly carved, with a low fire clay (such as AMACO 20M or 25M) that is bisque fired to cone 04. The bisque fired piece is covered with a single good coat of the Velvet underglaze of choice, coated with 3 coats of the Opalescent glaze and glaze fired to cone 05. It is that simple a process but the results are spectacular.

The artist needs to consider three key things in putting these combinations (which are numerous) together to which I give guidance below:

Depth and sharpness of carving: The deeper and sharper the carving, the Opalescent glaze will get thinner on the sharp edges and will pool more in the low spots. This will result in sharp and dramatic contrasts between the Velvets and the Opalescent. The sample patterns below showing the Aztec design are examples of this type of effect. A softer and less abrupt carving will result in a soft more subtle transition from the Velvet to the Opalescent. The tiles below with the fish are good examples of this look. Consider how deep to carve the surfaces depending on whether the surface will be vertical (pitcher) or horizontal (tile).
The artist must consider what Velvets will look good in contrast with Opalescent glaze. AMACO has 58 different Velvets that span the rainbow as far as color and shade. Try them all and let me know if you come up with a special combination by e-mailing me at slampron@amaco.com . We always want to show off what our extended family makes with our products.
The Opalescent glazes give very different looks and intensities of the contrasting opalescent layer. I will try to give some of my insights but certainly feel free to try them all.

Click here to see Steve’s favorite colors in the Opalescent line.

To download a PDF version of this page, please click here.

Please click on each photo for a larger view.

All the above tiles were created with Amaco® Slab Texture Molds.

Opalescent Glaze Colors:
	A. O-10 Transparent Pearl: Soft white opal.
	B. O-11 White Clover: Very strong and overall white opal.
	C. O-12 Tawny: Very soft yellowish iron opal.
	D. O-30 Autumn Leaf: Stronger version of O-12.
	E. O-42 Moss Green: Soft pale green opal.
	F. O-52 Fuchsia: Strong mauve opal. A must try for those that like mauve.
	G. O-54 Dusty Rose: Very, very pale pink opal.
	H. O-20 Bluebell: Beautiful pale blue copper opal.
	I. O-21 Aquamarine: Stronger version of O-20.
	J. O-26 Turquoise: Strong copper cobalt opal.
	K. O-57 Mottled Burgundy: Overpowering maroon opal.
	L. O-2 Black Tulip: Overpowering black opal.
	M. O-23 Sapphire Blue: Overpowering cobalt copper blue opal.
	These are my favorite Opalescent glazes, as well as, Jess, Mike and Naomi, my lab team that helped explore this beautiful technique.