John Bobeda on thu 29 aug 96
Patrick,
You asked,>Does anyone know anything about silkcreening on clay?>
I completed my Master's project in Ceramics using screen printing
on clay so I may be able to help you some, however that was in '65 through
'70.
I started first screening directly on wet clay slabs with black
underglaze mixed with mineral oil. The slabs were then constructed into
soft forms...a quick and dirty way of getting images onto the clay,
allowing me to "expand and distort the images". I bisque fired the forms
and glazed some of them with a clear glaze and some were left unglazed and
fired to cone 9 reduction and others low fired in oxidation. The
underglaze was made from a basic black stain formula found in Parmalee's
book Ceramic Glazes...the definitive book on glaze calc!
I used Ulano (Brand name) Direct emulsion to produce my screen
images (Photo screen process emuslion not photo emulsion. I took screen
process classes and a photo litho class so that I could do large format
litho photo negs....nowadays you can easily get a simple, film positive
using a photocopier and transparency film!
In those days, American Art and Clay Co. Produced some small
sample tubes of silkscreen overglaze mixed with oil...they may still offer
it today.
I screen printed this material directly on a fired glaze finish and
refired the images in a decorating firing at about cone 019.
Registration of multiple colors was difficult, working directly on
the surface was not the best, so I explored making decals. I visited a
couple of decal companies without success in learning any technical info.
Very tight lipped industry. I found an old, out of print book titled
Ceramic Screen Process and have since lost it on a "loan out".
I used standard decal paper to produce my decals. I developed
colors ("inks") for printing on decal paper using "clear base medium" as a
vehicle to screen the "Inks". I used a 12 double x screen and later went
to nylon.
All materials for screening were ball milled for 24 hours. Some
of the pigments that I made to produce the inks were raw materials,
(oxides, carbonates and fluxes), mixed and sieved at 200 mesh dry, then
mixed with "clear base" in a mortar and pestal, (that's the basic medium I
spoke of earlier). Other colors had to be mixed dry, screened and fired,
(calcined to cone 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8) depending on the color..chrome tin
requiring the highest...all info was gleaned out of Parmelee.
Some decals required an extra coat of clear medium or lacquer to
make them float off of the decal paper properly and adhere to the ceramic
surface. There is also a method of screening on tissue with color (ceramic
inks) in varnish and applying to unfired clay. When I started screening in
'65 Bob Ingle, was one of the first folks to experiment with screen process
on clay, At least as I remember. I hope I've spelled his name correctly,
he did the pot with the screen print of Monroe's profile, it really
inspired me to explore. Later, Howard Kottler and Richard Shaw and many
others started to use screen process techniques and took the process in new
directions, and as you probably have noticed some are still working with
the process to some degree today.
After I finished my Master's project I moved on to other Ideas in
Ceramics and have not gone back to the "screen printing on clay" since.
I later found Standard Ceramics and Mason Ceramics...both companies
produce screen process inks for the industry! They are available in small
paint cans ready to go.....so you could purchase professional, ready to use
colors for overglaze and underglaze with screen print oil already mixed
into them! If they still offer them.........go for it, It will be great to
see new energy in the medium, taking it into new directions.
Checking out a silkscreen class can teach you some tricks of the
trade if you are new to screen process printing. Also, The screen process
industry has gone through a lot of changes due to solvents and oils, so
some materials may not be available except in water base, which may be an
improvement in any case.
There are Artists who have recently taken to the medium who will
probably offer you more up-to-date info....I wanted to start from scratch
producing my own materials with an experimental approach. Most of my decal
work was used in a series of work related to "ACME CO" an exhibition I
produced in the early, early, '70s for Shasta College in California.
I also worked with Direct Photo Emulsion (aeroprint Brand, sold in
an aerosol spray can) on biscware. I dont' think they are in business any
longer...Also tried Bichromate emulsions but that's another story and too
many years ago!
I'd be intrested in what you do with the techniques.
I'll look foward to reading your "posts on ClayArt in the future.
Good Luck,
John Bobeda
Cabrillo College Aptos, Ca.
You Wrote-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>Resent-Subject: Silkscreen on clay
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>Approved-By: List Moderator
>Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 09:26:05 EDT
>Reply-To: Ceramic Arts Discussion List
>Sender: Ceramic Arts Discussion List
>From: Patrick & Lynn Hilferty
>Subject: Silkscreen on clay
>To: Multiple recipients of list CLAYART
>
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Does anyone know anything about silkcreening on clay? My clever idea of
>using photo emulsion as a medium to create a ceramic "photo" has turned
>into a research project that is badly in need of a grant writer. I've run
>across articles about Les Laurence and someone whose name escapes me
>recently in Ceramics Monthly that featured silkscreening and ceramic
>process, but the information is too sketchy, even for me.
>
>Any information on this subject would be appreciated.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Patrick Hilferty
>
>**************************************
> Patrick Hilferty
> E-Mail: philferty@earthlink.net
> Web: Http://home.earthlink.net/~philferty/
>**************************************
>.-
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