We love trying out new techniques at The Bent Brush and then sharing them with you via classes and events, and of course here in our blogs. We recently tried a couple of techniques that were very simple to create, but had really gorgeous and sophisticated looking results.
Bubble Glazing
Bubble glazing is a technique that uses some very simple tools like dish soap and a straw, along with the glaze to create a design that looks a bit like marble. To create this effect you will need a cup, some water, some glaze, dish soap and a straw. Start by painting your pottery piece with a base glaze first. Put a small amount of a contrasting glaze color into the small cup along with a little water to thin the glaze, which adjusts the intensity of the outer lines of the bubbles. Add four to six drops of liquid dish soap and mix it up with a straw. This is a technique that’s best to do with a friend, as it’s very difficult to blow the bubbles, hold the cup and hold your pottery at the same time. Have your friend hold the pottery piece and rotate it while you blow the bubbles and hold the bubble cup. Holding your cup right against your pottery piece, start to blow bubbles with the straw into the soap and glaze mixture. Blow slowly into the mixture for large bubbles and faster into it for smaller bubbles. You want the cup close enough to the piece of pottery that as the bubbles foam out of the cup, they are landing on your piece and popping, or you can pull the bubbles out of the cup with your fingers and put them on the piece. You can move the bubbles to where you want them by gently placing them with your fingers or blowing on them. You can do this to pop the bubbles as well, once they are placed where you want them. Hold the cup beside the piece for more even bubble shapes, as holding it above and letting the bubbles drop onto it will cause some unwanted glaze drips and splatters. Feel free to do this technique several times with different colors if you’d like. Wait until the glaze is dry and the bubbles evaporate before picking up the piece so as not to smudge the lines.
Shaving Cream Glazing
If you are looking to create a marbling look with swirling lines that look almost like your pottery has been tie dyed, then this shaving cream glaze technique is what you are looking for. It’s so fun and easy and the results are really colorful and gorgeous! First you make a layer of the foamy shaving cream (always use foam not gel shaving cream) on a paper plate. Don’t use too much. Smooth the shaving cream to about a half inch layer. Squirt a few drops of glaze in different spot over the shaving cream mixture. Swirl a paint brush through the mixture to create a marbling effect being sure not to muddy the glazes together too much. Now you can either press or roll your pottery piece through the mixture. With a plate, simply press it straight down into the mixture. With a mug or vase or some other rounded off piece you can roll it through the mixture. Let it dry for a few minutes and then rinse off the extra shaving cream, being careful not to get your pottery piece so wet that the glaze rinses off. Wait until you see the effect, it’s really awesome!
We have all the materials for you to be able to try these techniques and more at The Bent Brush and we look forward to having you come in and stimulate your creativity by trying out some of these new techniques! Please go to our website and look at the calendar for our class and event schedule.