Transcript
Speaker: If you want to see these these techniques in action, go subscribe to my YouTube channel and watch this video so you can get the the techniques in full. Go to Shaping Your Pottery on YouTube or just click the link in description. Thanks, guys. And let's get started. In this video, I'm going to show you my three favorite ways to apply black wash to my pottery. Stick around to the end to see the final result. This first technique is all about applying the black wash before you start under glazing.
Speaker: Let me show you. Here are the tools you will need. So you'll need a paintbrush, a sponge, some water, and then your favorite underglaze.
Speaker: So I have my Spiderman here. my Spiderman that I made. So I bisfire this, but you don't have to bisfire if you don't want it. Play around with it. Some people like to to add the black wash in the green ware. I like to do it in the bisque ware, but play around with it. See what works for you. There are many different ways to apply black wash to your pottery, but this is the way I like to do it. So the first thing I do is I grab my paintbrush and I dip it in some water.
Speaker: and I'll dip the paintbrush into the black wash or into the black underglaze. And it kind of gives it like a runny feature. And then I'll just start applying it all across the pot. And you can see already it's getting into the cracks, getting into the cracks of my Spiderman here. And so I'll just keep on painting this until it's fully covered. And I'll go back and forth dipping my paintbrush back into the water and then back into the black wash. And I'll just keep on painting, painting and painting and painting.
Speaker: Okay, so you really only need really one coat as long as it covers the whole thing. Next thing you got to do is you take your sponge, dip it in some water, make sure it's nice and wet.
Speaker: and then just start wiping away so this is the first technique where i am applying the the black wash underglaze before i start adding any other underglaze so and i just start wiping away and what you want to do so you see it's getting a little dirty you want to use the sides that are clean to wipe off the underglaze that way it doesn't really spread so like if you're If you're using it on a cup, it'll spread a little bit more if you're not trying to do the but clean side. And easy to get off as well, so you can just simply dip it in water.
Speaker: Now what I'm going to do is I'm going to simply just start applying the underglaze over the the black wash.
Speaker: This next technique is all about adding the black wash after you have already underglazed everything. And I have to do it after the bisque fire because I think it looks makes it look even better. It actually stays too if you do the if you do the black wash after you bisque fire. So let me show you. So I have my second Spiderman here and I'm just going to simply do the same technique I told you before. Dip it in water and brush the black underglaze on there.
Speaker: Now I'm gonna take my wet sponge and just wipe it off. You can already see kind of the difference just from wiping off a little bit compared to the first one that I did. This one makes it look more, I guess, rougher, while the other one insinuates the underglaze a little bit more.
Speaker: You can definitely tell the difference between the first one and the second one. So this is painting it before or you add in the black wash before you add the underglaze and this is adding the black wash after you've already underglazed it. There's a really big difference here. So this last technique is all about adding the the black underglaze and the black wash over this entire pot.
Speaker: And it works best if you have white clay, but you can use whatever clay you want. But I find the results work best if you have some type of white clay. Like I use porcelain, so this is really white clay and it looks really amazing. Let me show you what it looks like and what I do. So all we're gonna do is just add the black underglaze and just gonna paint it on there. Just, that's it. For this one, you could probably leave it a little bit thicker. You probably don't need to dip it into the water as much.
Speaker: This is what adding the black wash to the entire pot does. It basically just stains it and it can create a very cool effect. You might have to scrub a little bit more depending on how thick you want the the effect to look. So here are the three different ways to apply black wash and underglaze. So number one is apply the black wash before you underglaze and play around with it. Maybe you want to add the black wash in the greenware stage. I like to do it in the bisque stage, but whatever works for you works. The next one is adding the black wash
Speaker: After you've already underglazed and I find that it works best if you underglaze it and then bisque fire it and then add the black wash afterwards. And the next one is adding a black wash to the entire piece and to kind of stain the pot. So the results are coming up right now. The kilter's finished and so let's see the results. So this one is the adding the black wash before the underglaze.
Speaker: And then this one is adding a black wash after the other place. You can tell it's a pretty big difference. So this one looks more like it's been fighting for a little while. Well, this one looks like, I mean, it looks like it's fighting as well, but it looks like it looks a little bit different like this. So the colors changed. The colors changed more on this one.
Speaker: because it you're basically staining the clay, being the staining the underglaze because it's already been bisque fired. So you're staining it. So this one was after, this was before the underglaze was added and this was after the underglaze was added.
Speaker: here's the results for this one
Speaker: very very snazzy. So those are the results. I hope you guys enjoyed it and I'll see you guys in the next one. Hey thanks for listening to this episode of Shaping Your Pottery with Nick Torres. If you are a hobby potter and looking to connect with more like -minded creatives, I have the thing just for you. I created a community called The Clay Games where each month we do a fun monthly pottery challenge and we connect and help each other grow and to make our best pottery that we can make.
Speaker: If you would like to join the clay games community go to shapeyourpottery .com forward slash community to join. I hope to see you in there and I can't wait to see your pottery again go to shapeyourpottery .com forward slash community to join the clay games community.
