A Brief History of Onglaze Painting

The technique of painting porcelain is over 2000 years old! The Chinese developed their technique of applying certain pigments made from minerals to their porcelain, then heating them at very high(1200 +degrees farenheit) temperatures. This extreme temperature causes the glaze to melt, thus allowing the pigments to become a part of the glaze. We have many terms for this technique: China Painting, Porcelain Painting, On-Glaze , and Mineral Painting. Each painting on this website has been designed and executed solely by the artist and created in her own studio. Many different materials are used to create different effects of texture, color, and even the mood of the piece. Fiberglass, fusing glass and porcelain "jewels" onto china, matte paint, lusters, metallics and incising (chipping off) off the glaze are just a few of the many effects used today. Painting on glass is virtually the same technique, in that the paint is applied in the same manner and fired in a kiln. The difference is that glass cannot hold up in the heat required to melt porcelain glaze. Glass mineral paints contain more flux (ground glass) to adhere at a lesser temperature. Below is the progression of painting one piece. Each time it's painted, that layer of paint is fired in the kiln to maturity. Then the piece is painted again, to add depth, more colors and other materials, such as luster, gold, etc.

Lathe

 Ornaments and eggs are easily designed and painted by using the craft Lathe. It is designed for eggs, but works ideally for painting perfect rings and bands on spherical shapes.

Erasing

 This is an erased lustre technique. Using a dremel tool and a rubber bullet, I am able to erase the fired green lustre to the white china to produce the highlight areas.

Sandblasted Porcelain

The black wrought iron design bordering this scene is blasted for depth. it is actually engraved deeply into the porcelain bisque (unglazed). I painted it with matte black so it would remain dull, in contrast to the sheen of the rest of the piece.

   Top of the Chrysler Building in New York. Deep sandblasting in  recessed areas. Painted with platinum. gold and other lusters.

 This piece has sand blasting on  Liberty's face, and is painted with lustre. the added pieces are handmade from porcelain clay, to represent the cityscape and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Incising

On the right, the gold texture is very rough, because I have chipped off the glaze using incising flux.