These are translucent underglazes that can be used on greenware, on bisque, or over other underglazes or matte glazes. They are more color concentrated than Concepts and will give you brighter colors.

Majolica

Majolica is a highly decorated ware reminiscent of the Italian Renaissance period. This is a ceramic technique in which you do detailed brush work on top of unfired glaze. Usually one paints with underglazes directly onto greenware or bisque, then glazes with a clear glaze. In this case, you first paint on a matte glaze of any color and let it dry. Designs can be transferred onto the piece by first tracing onto tissue paper, and then tracing the tissue paper design with a permanent marker which will seep through onto the ware. The marker will not effect the ware because it will fire out. But it gives you guidelines to paint your design. Here are some examples of majolica.

Any glaze that does not flow during firing can be used as a base. Duncan’s new True Matte glazes are ideal.

The maple leaf on this plate was painted over a matte glaze.
We used a soft yellow base in our class.

Outlining and Detailing

Even if you use Concepts to paint your designs, EZ strokes may be easier to use for outlining and detailing. You use a thinned product and it flows more easily off a liner brush than the same color in Concepts.

Availability

We carry a full array of the Concepts underglazes in the studio as it will work for most applications. However, we have recently added a selection of Cover Coats (opaque underglazes — yesterday’s post) and EZ strokes, translucent underglazes. We currently have about three dozen EZ stroke colors to choose from. If you need others we will be happy to pick them up for you at our supplier.

Because most underglaze work done with EZ strokes can also be done with Concepts, we will discuss other techniques later.

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Next underglaze topic will be Concepts.