Glazing the Foot (From Joanna Turnbull)

[George Lewter]

Joanna said on July 24, 2012:

"I am fairly new to pottery and would really love to know how one goes about glazing a piece so that there is no white foot visible at the bottom of the pots.  I keep noticing and admiring various members work where the glaze reaches all the way down to the bottom of the piece, even on glazes that are known to be runny.  I really dislike the white band (no matter how narrow I get it) at the base of my pieces.  I have tried taping the foot and waxing a very small foot, dipping into wax or just freehand on the wheel.   And yes there is always that dreaded white band.  Any words of wisdom or advice would be apprecaited!"

The first reply came in from Jeff Poulter a bit later on 7/24/2012:

"I have a few ideas. I use the ultimate edger to put a rounded foot on each piece I throw. I spray my glazes so you can get just the right amount clear down to the foot and I stilt everything in the glaze firing. I use Roselli stilts and just clip the little metal prongs off as they will deform at cone 5/6 and your pot could tip over(learned that the hard way!) Hope these ideas help."

Joanna replied back again on 7/24

"Jeff - Thank you for your reply!  That was what I thought I should be doing. I do use the ultimate edger myself, love it!  I am planning on ding a more spraying now that I have everything working at home.  I will look into the slit idea as my mind was wondering about that too!  Funny you should reply it was your red flared bowl that made me finally ask!  Love it! Looking forward to the pictures after your bisque fire. thank you! jo

I have another method, and we will likely get more, so I have moved this conversation to a discussion page of its own.

[George Lewter]

Steven Hill taught me his foot technique, and I use it for about 90% of my pots. It involves leaving an expanded "glaze catcher" ring at the foot, and then using a trimming tool to cut a very shallow angled undercut beneath the glaze catcher so the pot appears to float off the surface just a bit. Using the technique also gives you the advantage of not having to trim a foot ring. The top of the glaze catcher extends out horizontally from the wall of the vessel and is rounded over to make a chip resistant rim. It is remarkable how much glaze will collect in the glaze catcher, before spilling over the edge. It will then have to gather more quantity before it will run totally off the pot.

With my smaller pots, the angled undercut extends for about a half inch from the glaze catcher to the actual bottom of the foot. I can then use wax resist half way out the undercut, or all the way to the bottom surface of the glaze catcher to determine where the glaze stops.

[Shine Chisholm]

I have heard (and have not tried) using a layer of sand on the kiln shelf will allow you to glaze all over without the piece sticking to the shelf. It doesn't sound so different from what Brian suggests with the shells.

In terms of cleaning a piece up after having glazed it, buttons have given me a lot of practice cleaning off the bottom without losing much glaze on the sides. After the glazed piece is dry-- completely dry-- I spray water onto a bat or ware board. It should be thick enough that the entire board is covered but not so thick that it doesn't break its own surface tension. I allow the piece to rest in that water for a few minutes, and the glaze washes off easily where it was wet.

I can only speak for how well this technique works for vitrified ware. I would be curious to hear how it acts with porous bisque.

[0ibbwdyhdge9l]

George - thanks for your reply.  I will give this a try!

 

[0ibbwdyhdge9l]

Brian - thank you too! I like the hidden foot idea and think I'll go with that.  I was intrigued with the sea shell concept though.  How did you ever come up with it?

[0ibbwdyhdge9l]

Shine - Hello and thanks for the imput.  I have heard of the sand idea.  A friend actually mixes the sand into his wax and then when the glaze run is over the piece is sitting in sand.