Form: The form is thrown and altered, two different hollow cone forms were create on the wheel and attached, creating a football like shape. The form was covered overnight but given the opportunity to firm up a bit. The next day, I paddled the shape to make the bottom flat and the top flat and then used a carving tool to make incised line down the middle. The form had air trapped in it giving it a bit of a ballon-like quality. The handle of the form is supposed to be branch-like and was created by making coils and then pulling twisting and carving them with a broken end of a piece of wood. These parts were scored and slipped onto the form.
Glaze: Glazes used are a cone 6, Steven Hill’s Sea Foam Green, and just a basic glossy white glaze, which is underneath the laser printer decal image.
Surface Decoration: The surface treatment process is what I am most eager to share. It was my plan all along to place an decal image of a leaf on the white glazed surface of the form. After nearly a year, a particular leaf in my garden caught my eye as a similar shape to this form. I photographed it and turned it into a black and white image on the computer.
Much of my finished works incorporate my own photographs through the use of full color digital printed ceramic decals, a fairly expensive process, and regular laser printed decals, a low cost option. You are limited to an image that comes out a sepia tone once fired onto the piece and the process is very much experimental and results can vary big time depending a number of factors.
A few years ago I bought an older laser printer off Craigslist for $40, model HP LaserJet M1212nf MFP. There are several older HP laser printers that have been noted in the resources below. The key is that there needs to be over 30% black iron oxide in the toner. Laser printers that use the HP LaserJet print cartridge 12A or 85A seem to work. It is also possible to look up, online, the MSDS for laser toner to see if there is over 30% black iron oxide.
The second item you need is laser printer decal paper. I have successfully used Laser Waterslide Decal Paper, item number L825C, purchased from DecalPaper.com. It does not require an overcoat like most other ceramic decal processes.
The image you choose can determine how well it might turn out. You may have to experiment with photographic images that have lots of dark to black areas. Adjusting brightness upward to 25-30% or converting them to halftones in Photoshop may be required. You can also try converting them to greyscale in Photoshop. Although, I have had success just using a basic photo editor program and using a black and white filter.
Firing: My piece is bisque fired to cone 06, Glaze fired to cone 6, and the decal was fired to cone 04. The goal is to soften the glaze enough so the iron oxide from the decal can burn into the glaze. For a low-fire glaze cone 010 could be closer to the temp you need to fire your decal to and for cone 10 glaze cone 4 might be close to what you need to fire the decal to. All of this is experimental and each glaze is going to become soft at different temperatures so testing is absolutely imperative so you don’t destroy a piece that is important to you.
For help with decal application and and additional decal resources see:
http://lindaarbuckle.com/handouts/laser-decals-for-ceramics.pdf
http://rothshank.com/justins-work/decal-resources/
