Periodic tableware
For his table settings order, my brother wants symbols of six chemical elements to appear on the large plates (at least; if I feel ambitious, I can mark the small plates and the mugs as well). The standard-issue atomic symbol, number, and weight, arranged in a bounding box, will suffice. Here's the basic design, for hydrogen, cobbled together in Photoshop:
The next step was figure out how to transfer this image to the bisqueware. I chose to cut out key portions of the drawing, such as corners of the square and the big H, and the entire numeral 1 of the atomic number. Cutting out the decimal number of the atomic weight seemed like too much trouble. Then I taped this stencil onto the plate surface with masking tape. Using a #2 pencil, I marked the key points onto the clay, removed the stencil, then drew on the rest of the design freehand, including the atomic weight numerals. Here's how it looked:
I had recently purchased a small plastic squeeze bottle of black underglaze that has a metal applicator tube, made by Leslie Ceramic Supply Co. I squeezed the underglaze on by hand, but you can see my work is a bit shaky. Running the metal tip over the rough clay surface will do that.
I did another test later and found that I could make the lines neat and straight if I were to use masking tape to define the edges. The underglaze didn't bleed underneath the tape edges. Though such an approach appeals to my sense of neatness, it also seems like a lot of extra work. (Remember airbrush friskets? They would come in handy here!) Besides, a hand-made look may be preferable. I'll fire this as a test (the plate isn't usable for this project) and see how I feel about it afterward. Just need to dip this in some clear glaze.
The next step was figure out how to transfer this image to the bisqueware. I chose to cut out key portions of the drawing, such as corners of the square and the big H, and the entire numeral 1 of the atomic number. Cutting out the decimal number of the atomic weight seemed like too much trouble. Then I taped this stencil onto the plate surface with masking tape. Using a #2 pencil, I marked the key points onto the clay, removed the stencil, then drew on the rest of the design freehand, including the atomic weight numerals. Here's how it looked:
I had recently purchased a small plastic squeeze bottle of black underglaze that has a metal applicator tube, made by Leslie Ceramic Supply Co. I squeezed the underglaze on by hand, but you can see my work is a bit shaky. Running the metal tip over the rough clay surface will do that.
I did another test later and found that I could make the lines neat and straight if I were to use masking tape to define the edges. The underglaze didn't bleed underneath the tape edges. Though such an approach appeals to my sense of neatness, it also seems like a lot of extra work. (Remember airbrush friskets? They would come in handy here!) Besides, a hand-made look may be preferable. I'll fire this as a test (the plate isn't usable for this project) and see how I feel about it afterward. Just need to dip this in some clear glaze.
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