Kim Schoenberger - EFGH & I

EFGH & I - Techniques...

Porcelain tiles... bisque fired:

E - Resist with paper

F - Slip trail

G - Inlay

H - Resist with latex

...and

I - Resist with shellac

ps. all details on techniques found in labels under Kim Schoenberger

Spring letters

Spring visited us today - a lovely mild sunny day - what better day to post my next set of letters.


You might recall for this second alphabet I have moved away from shiny brass to shiny letters on a rusted background. I am using a font called Chiller; and I am engraving through the rust into the metal below. To keep the shine of the letters I am coating it all with a matte art varnish.



The letters will become part of an installation called something like letters in flight; or a flock of letters.

Kim Schoenberger - H I

Once again two entries and two similar techniques.

H - Resist with Latex

After tracing letter & border into the clay I've put some liquid latex into a small nib bottle for easy application, well almost. After a few practice runs I finally got the hang of it thankfully latex is easily removed when a mistake happens!

I've added colour with black underglaze and used the spatter method with an old toothbrush, once dry the latex is peeled off.

Finished H - sanded, dry and ready for bisque.

I - Resist with Shellac

As per I've traced the letter into the clay and outlined the border.

With a fine brush shellac is applied to the letter and border. Once the shellac has dried a damp sponge is used to wipe back the clay.

In the bisque firing the shellac will burn out revealing the raised letter and border.

Kim Schoenberger - F G

Two entries, two techniques.... look similar but different! Short and sweet...

F - Slip Trail

As with all previous letters; traced outline onto clay first. The Really Rich Red porcelain slip is filled into a slip trailer with a fine nib point and is trailed over outline to make the letter F and border.

Ready for bisque - sanded and sharpened lines up with a blade knife.

G - Inlay

As the names suggests, coloured clay is inlaid into the wet claybody. The letter transfered as usual, using a carving tool cutting into the clay to make the letter G and border

There are several methods of filling, such as a butter knife, brush, fingers etc...I've chosen to use the slip trailer seeing it is loaded and will give me relatively a clean process for finishing.

It's left to harden to the leatherhard stage and the excess slip is scraped off with a flexible metal kidney, revealing the lines of colour.

Finished - dry stage, sanded and ready for bisque!

Kim Schoenberger - E

Abit behind the 8 ball...doing catch up!

It's a bit too cool and damp for the studio today and I feel like staying inside and dry... because I can!

Techniques continue....basic methods of application when working with clay.

E - Resist with paper

E traced, cut and positioned into place on clay,

Slip made with Really Rich Red stain and porcelain clay, to a paste and brushed on,

left to dry, then paper is carefully lifted off.

Completely dry, defined all line bleed from application of slip, sanded and ready for bisque.

August Letter

Oops I forgot this one and added two images of the doodle 'O'