Sept/Oct 2006 Eric Serritella’s Unearthing Beauty Revealing surfaces from within A Touch of Class Create hangtags that work Getting Personal Make colorful decals A Cut Above Decorate with linocuts Plus: Where to Buy Decal Paper 6 Ways to Save Electricity Laser Decal How-to PMI_Sept-Oct_06_Covers.indd 4 8/14/06 10:03:24 AM PotteryMaking Illustrated • September/October 2006 1 PMI_Sept-Oct_06_001-013.indd 1 8/11/06 5:08:55 PM 2 PotteryMaking Illustrated • September/October 2006 PMI_Sept-Oct_06_001-013.indd 2 8/11/06 5:09:47 PM TABLE OF CONTENTS Features 15 Getting Personal by Brendan Tang No-fi re decals just for the fun of it. 19 A Cut Above by Paul Andrew Wandless Printing and embossing on clay with linocuts. 24 Unearthing Beauty by Eric Serritella Pushing the limits of surface. 31 A Touch of Class by Frank James Fisher The art of hangtag design. Departments 7 Tips from the Pros Do-It-Yourself Decals by Frank Gaydos 10 In the Mix Color and Texture with Engobes by Jeff Zamek 12 Tools of the Trade Going Easy on the Meter by Arnold Howard 36 Supply Room Decalcomania by Paul Andrew Wandless 39 Instructors File Following the Catenary Curve by David McDonald 44 Off the Shelf Image Transfer by Sumi von Dassow Eric Serritella throws a thick-walled bowl for his “Opened Earth” work. See article on page 24. PotteryMaking Illustrated • September/October 2006 3 PMI_Sept-Oct_06_001-013.indd 3 8/14/06 1:55:13 PM Fired Up Re-examining Life Volume 9 • Number 5 Editorial [email protected] Telephone: (614) 895-4213 If your knees aren’t green by the end Fax: (614) 891-8960 EDITORIAL of the day, you ought to seriously re- Editor Bill Jones Assistant Editor Renée Fairchild examine your life. Assistant Editor Jennifer Poellot —Bill Watterson Publisher Charles Spahr Advertising [email protected] Telephone: (614) 794-5809 s anyone involved with pottery will Fax: (614) 891-8960 surely attest, green knees and clay Advertising Manager Steve Hecker A Advertising Services Debbie Plummer on your clothes are one in the same. No Subscriptions Customer Service: (800) 340-6532 matter what your skill level is, a day www.potterymaking.org that passes without the opportunity to Circulation Circulation Manager Frank Ruiz get clay on your clothes, is certainly a [email protected] Graphic Design day that’s not all that it could be. Bury Designs Westerville, Ohio 43082 Editorial and Advertising offices Clay has so much to offer on so many levels. Teachers use it to re- 735 Ceramic Place, Suite 100 Westerville, Ohio 43081 USA inforce lessons on art, history, mathematics or music. Some use clay Editorial Advisory Board David Gamble • Steven Hill • Mel Jacobson as a way to escape the tedium of everyday life while others pursue Anna Calluori Holcombe • Jonathan Kaplan a career in the fi eld. It’s a medium for expressing feelings, opinions, Dannon Rhudy • John Toki • Anderson Turner ideas and aesthetics, or just goofi ng off and relaxing. www.potterymaking.org Pottery Making Illustrated (ISSN 1096-830X) is published bi- monthly by The American Ceramic Society, 735 Ceramic Place, Suite 100, Westerville, Ohio 43081. Periodical postage paid at When such an activity is so enjoyable, what are we thinking when Westerville, Ohio, and additional mailing offices. we don’t at least attempt to engage it on a daily basis? There are Opinions expressed are those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent those of the editors or The American many excuses, some valid, but that shouldn’t stop us from having Ceramic Society. Subscription rates: 6 issues (1 year) $24.95, 12 issues (2 daily contact with clay as a goal, either through actual touching or years) $39.95. In Canada: 6 issues (1 year) $30, 12 issues (2 at least thinking of the next project or technique we want to attempt. years) $55. International: 6 issues (1 year) $40, 12 issues (2 years) US$70. All payments must be in US$ and drawn on a U.S. bank. Allow 6-8 weeks for delivery. And you’ll fi nd inspiration and instruction in this issue that will Change of address: Visit our website at www.potterymak- ing.org to change your address, or call our Customer Service get you to think and, maybe, act on that project. Our series of ar- toll-free at (800) 340-6532. Allow six weeks advance notice. Back issues: When available, back issues are $6 each, plus ticles on surface decorations features Eric Serritella’s technique for $3 shipping/handling; $8 for expedited shipping (UPS 2-day heating and expanding surfaces, which serves as a starting point for air); and $6 for shipping outside North America. Allow 4–6 weeks for delivery. Call (800) 340-6532 to order. scores of surface variations; Paul Andrew Wandless returns with an Contributors: Writing and photographic guidelines are avail- exciting technique for printing with linocuts; and the decal articles able on the website. Mail manuscripts and visual materials to the editorial offices. open up all kinds of opportunities for combining print materials and Photocopies: Permission to photocopy for personal or inter- computer-generated work onto your surfaces. nal use beyond the limits of Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law is granted by The American Ceramic Society, ISSN 1096-830X, provided that the appropriate fee is paid di- rectly to Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Dr., We can’t change your priorities, but we can attempt to inspire you Danvers, MA 01923 USA; (978) 750-8400; www.copyright. com. Prior to photocopying items for educational classroom to re-examine them, and hope that at the end of the day, you’ve got use, please contact Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. clay on your clothes. This consent does not extend to copying items for general distribution, for advertising or promotional purposes, or to republishing items in whole or in part in any work and in any format. Please direct republication or special copying permis- sion requests to the Ceramic Arts Publisher, The American Ceramic Society, 735 Ceramic Place, Suite 100, Westerville, Ohio 43081. Bill Jones Editor Errata: In the July/August issue, we referred to Charan Sachar in the wrong gender at the Postmaster: Send address changes to Pottery Making Il- end of his great article on building a better sink trap. He took it well but we do regret the lustrated, PO Box 2109, Marion, OH 43306-8209. Form 3579 requested. error. And Russel Fouts, who wrote the article on alternatives for smoke resists, informed Copyright © 2006 The American Ceramic Society us that the fi nal smoke fi ring should be to 500°C, not 900°C. Firing aluminum foil saggars All rights reserved to the higher temperature is not recommended. —Ed. www.ceramics.org 4 PotteryMaking Illustrated • September/October 2006 PMI_Sept-Oct_06_001-013.indd 4 8/14/06 1:58:38 PM PotteryMaking Illustrated • September/October 2006 5 PMI_Sept-Oct_06_001-013.indd 5 8/14/06 10:01:30 AM 6 PotteryMaking Illustrated • September/October 2006 PMI_Sept-Oct_06_001-013.indd 6 8/14/06 4:03:51 PM Tips from the Pros by Frank Gaydos Do-It-Y ourself Decals Paper” and select clear paper from the ordering sec- TONER DECALS tion. Thirty 8½×11 sheets cost $25 plus $8 shipping in the United States. Finally, you’ll need a computer with an image edit- ing program like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Elements, Coral Draw, Microsoft Picture-it, the freebie GIMP for Windows, etc. A great source for images is the Do- ver design book series. They supply images on CDs in different formats already scanned. Of course, you can also come up with your own black-and-white designs, and anything you can type in any font. Process First, create an image on your computer. Since the image prints darker than it looks on the monitor, With a little imagination and a laser printer, you can spruce up your work with decals. you should lighten it with the editing program. For scanned photographs use 300 DPI (more than 300 any potters use commercial ceramic decals in usually makes the image too dark); however, some- Mtheir work, but some are making their own times you might want a darker image, so experiment. decals for reasons of creativity or frugality. Creat- You’ll need to test to see how it fi res with the glazes ing your own ceramic decals is easy and fun, limited you use. Fill entire page with images to avoid waste. only by your imagination. Here’s a simple technique Insert decal paper into your printer oriented so that for creating your own decals. the image prints on the glossy side. Since the glossy side is applied face down, what you print will be a How it Works Some brands of black-and-white laser printer ink cartridges contain up to 60% iron oxide, as well as other pigments in their toner. If you print a decal using one of these printers, apply it to a glazed ce- ramic surface and fi re it, the iron oxide survives the fi ring and becomes permanently fused to the glaze surface, leaving a sepia-toned image on the surface. The other pigments and fi llers, which are typically organic, burn away. Supplies This process works using the black ink from a laser printer. The problem is that not all black ink contains black iron oxide, as some manufacturers are converting to organic soy-based pigments. For now, Hewlett-Packard (HP) printers use the most iron in their toner while Apple printers are a distant second.