Bisque Painting
by Hazelle Gibbons of Sun City, Ca
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| INTRODUCTION | Since this article is years old, the author may not still be painting. I do not have the name of the magazine in which it appeared, but it may have been in the China Decorator, since many of the articles I inherited from my mother-in-law's library are from that source. |
| PIANTING ON PORCELAIN BISQUE | Bisque, or biscuit, is ware which has not been glazed. Use porcelain bisque, not pottery and select bisque which is smooth, fine grained and translucent. Pottery bisque is too coarse. Before decorating, go over the bisque with fine sandpaper to remove any rough areas and to make it smooth. You might use a kitchen cleansing powder and scrubber sponge to smooth the bisque. Clean and dry thoroughly. |
| DESIGN | Sketch pattern or design on LIGHTLY using regular lead pencil. Do not use china marking or wax pencil. You may trace pattern using graphite paper but before painting,lighten the pattern lines by rubbing over them with a smooth cotton cloth. You may also sketch the design on your ware with a liner or scroller brush and a light color. |
| PAINTS | Matt paints come in powder form and are the PROPER paints to use on bisque. They contain no flux and will fire dull or opaue. There should be no shine to bisque painting. Matt paints are also called Goauache or Royal Worchester. Matt wax colors are semi-transparent or semi-matt and fill a place in between overglaze and matt colors. Matt white is added to obtain light shades. Have a generous amount on your palette. |
| TO MATT OVERGLAZE PAINTS | Some do not wish to go to the expense of buying matt paints and it is possible to use your regular overglaze colors. Grind paint with lavender oil and either Bristol powder, zinc oxide powder (obtained at a drug store) (dealers also carry this powder this is my addition), or white matt paint in proportions of about 2 or 3 of paint and 1 of powder. Some highly fluxed colors may require a little more matt paint or powder. Test fire colors before using. Paint and clean brushes with lavender oil. |
| BRUSHES | Use the same kind of brushes for bisque as for your regular china painting except you may wish to use older brushes for bisque since the roughness of the bisque is hard on good brushes. (My note, I like to pre oil the bisque very lightly with either baby oil or mineral oil and wipe it or pad it off thoroughly, brushes don't drag as much as it is also easier on brushes. nl) |
| MIXING MATT PAINTS | 1--Grind matt colors on grinding glass with denatured
alcohol, preferred, or turpentine. Matt paints require
more grinding than overglaze paints. Let dry thoroughly
then mix with fat oil until creamy consistency and
spread with a brush dampened with lavender
oil. 2--Grind matt paints with china painting medium to a dry crumbly consistency and finish mixing with lavender oil to spreading consistency. Paint with lavender oil. 3--Grind matt colors and paint with real (not imitation lavender oil.) 4--Grind matt paints with imported virgin olive oil, paint with lavender oil. 5--Grind paints with matt medium, paint with lavender oil. Here is one recipe for a medium to use with matt paints. 1 tsp. lavender oil 1 tsp. clove oil 6 tsp. balsam of copabia 6-- Grind matt paints with lavender oil and add a drop or two of fat oil to make paint thick enough to hold to painting consistency. Paint with lavender oil and use denatured alcohol to clean brushes. Don't use turpentine. 7--Grind paints with glycerine or glycerol and spread paints with water. Apply paints thinly. You will probably need four or five paintings and firings to get the desired depth of color. Clean rushes in water or alcohol. The matt paints when mixed with glycerin or glycerol stay open indefinitely. |
| My preference? | For my regular bisque painting I prefer No. 4 and I use no turpentine, not even for brush cleaning. Normally I do not like olive oil to mix paints but the matt colors dry so quickly and so hard and the olive oil does help retard this drying. For very special figurines the No.7 is my choice. Grind your paints thoroughly and use them lightly with a not-too-wet brush. If you are adept with water colors this is a fine way to use matt paints for all bisque decoration. |
| APPLYING PAINTS | Keep brush rather dry and apply colors very sparingly and smoothly. Be sure to feather your brush over any hard lines or stacked paint. Clean brushes by dipping in lavender oil and blotting out color on cloth under finger pressure. After the first painting is completed and has dried for about two hours your piece may be painted again before firing if desired. Pastel bisque looks best decorated with delicate flowers, fruits, landsacapes or birds in combination with gold, raised paste and/or enamels. |
| BACKGROUNDS | Since porcelain bisque comes in many colors no further background is necessary. Let the beauty of the colored porcelain be the background and add only shadows; how- ever, if you wish to tint your bisque paint, let color set up a few minutes and rub with a smooth firm cloth over your finger. |
| GOLD | On a matt surface gold fires matt; therefore, liquid bright gold may be used on bisque and, after firing it will look like burnish or matt gold. Be sure to pour out the liquid bright gold and let it thicken well (by exposure to the air) before using or it will bleed into the pores of the bisque. You may use Roman or liquid burnish golds but they are not as pretty as liquid bright gold, nor as econmical. |
| RAISED PASTE | You may use powdered paste, ready mixed paste or the paste powder made especailly for liquid bright gold coverage, the same as for overglaze ware. |
| ENAMEL | Use enamel or relief white the same as for regular china. Do keep your enamel work subtle if using for a highlighting, and dainty as a trim. Bisque is very pretty with enamels alone. |
| FIRING | Fire as for your regular china painting except for a little lighter, or less heat. Cone 018 for the first painting and Cone 019 for your finished work would be a good general rule. To matt glazed china, mix matt vellum (usually white or ivory) to a heavy pase with china painting medium and thin with lavender oil to a spreading consistency. Apply with a large brush, feathering to make even; or the vellum surface may be blended with a padder until it is smooth. Dry and fire according to the ware, then decorate with matt paints. Beautiful velvety grounds may be attained with matt colors. Many painters are of the opinion that porcelain bisque decorating is terribly difficult. It really is much easier than painting on overglaze ware and so much more can be accomplished in fewer firings. Try it! |
| MY NOTE | When painting on bisque, I like to first coat,
evenly, with either mineral oil (or baby oil) and pad
it thoroughly to remove as much oil as I can so it
doesn't run. This makes the application of paint easier
and also cuts down on the wear on brushes. nebraskalassie |
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