Pastel Satin Matt Bottle

by AMACO brent

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Video

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Throw Bottle

Start with making the bottle form. Using 2 pounds of A-Mix, a white stoneware, throw a bottle on the wheel. Make it a little thick to allow for some shaving later. Use a throwing stick to bell out the body of the bottle, and wooden ribs to shape it.

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Paddle

Once the bottle is thrown, wait until it’s a little firmer to paddle it. Paddle gently.

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Sureform bottle

After the bottle is leather-hard use a sureform to shave the bottle and give the paddled sides a sharp, planed edge.

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Finish bottle

Use a metal clay scraper to clean up any marks left from the sureform or hands, and let the bottle dry.

Bisque to Cone 04.

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Draw Design

Using a standard graphite pencil, draw the flower design on the bottle. Graphite completely burns out in firing.

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Fill in design with wax

Use the lines of graphite to guide the application of wax resist. Amaco wax resist, thinned with a small amount of water, in an underglaze applicator, can be applied quickly and carefully. Wherever the wax resist is applied will remain the white of the clay.

The glaze won’t stick anywhere there is wax, and if the wax is misapplied the bottle will have to be rebisqued.

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Mix pastel glaze

While the wax dries mix the Satin Matt glaze to get the pastel shade desired. The Satin Matt glaze line is intermixable, so mixing white you can get a more pastel version of the saturated colors. Here I used a metric measuring set to mix 100 milliliters of white to 25 milliliters of teal, a ratio of 4 parts white to one part colored glaze. Mix the glaze well.

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Brush on glaze

Using a fan brush, apply the pastel Satin Matts to the bottle, three coats, allowing each coat to dry before applying the next coat. Where the wax was applied, the glaze beads up and resists. If it doesn’t completely bead up it can be easily removed with a damp sponge. Leave some of the beaded glaze in place and it will stay on the bottle as small freckles of glaze on the unglazed white clay.

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Apply second pastel color

Apply two colors to the bottle, a deeper shade to the flattened flower patterned faces, a lighter or contrasting color to the rounded sides of the bottle.

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Firing

Fire the bottle to Cone 5 in an electric kiln. The light green on the edges of the bottle is 4 parts SM-11 white and one part SM-44 Chartreuse, the darker green around the flowers is 4 parts SM-11 to one part SM-27 Teal.

Mix and test your own combinations to get just the shade you’re looking for.

Happy glazing!

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Light, Lighter, Lightest

The Satin Matte glazes are mixable, and you can get just the tint you want, as you can see in this image. For more examples visit the Satin Matte page: https://www.amaco.com/t/glazes-and-underglazes/high-fire/satin-matt

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