Silkscreening offers an excellent way to transfer intricate designs onto your pottery with efficiency and precision. Whether you're looking to improve your business model or simply enhance your skills, the possibilities with silkscreening are endless. Discover the potential of this technique and take your pottery creations to the next level.
Here's a step-by-step guide on how to use silkscreens on ceramics:
Materials You'll Need
- Silkscreen (check out my blogs about different ways to create silkscreens)
- A design - available on my website under “Artistic Resources”
- Ceramic piece (leatherhard or bisque)
- Underglaze
- Silkscreen Medium (Mayco) (optional)
Steps to Follow
- Choose a design from my website. You will find them under “Artistic Resources” and create a silkscreen.
- Place the silkscreen on top of the ceramic piece. Make sure the design is centered and straight.
- Thicken your underglaze with Mayco silkscreen Medium or you can also let it sit and dry out until it’s the consistency of peanut butter. This is the critical part of making a successful transfer. Practice until you get the correct consistency.
- Use your finger to push underglaze through the silkscreen onto your piece. I find a circular motion works best.
Carefully lift the silkscreen off the ceramic piece and let it dry.
Now you have created an endless number of options for yourself. You can use the transferred image for:
- Sgraffito
- Slip trailing
- Painting with underglaze
- Relief carving
- Use stable glazes to color in the design
- leave it as is and use colourful glazes around the design
Silkscreening is a great method to transfer designs to ceramics. I hope this guide helped you and if you have any questions please ask in the comments section!