Nymph glaze firing
I made two similar nymphs just in case one of them might crack during the kiln firing, but the kiln gods were agreeable this time and both nymphs made it through without any problems. They went through two firings, first the bisque firing, then I glazed them and went through the high firing.
After bisque firing, before glazing:
This is how I paint my nymph sculptures. I start with a brown underglaze applied on all the carved-in lines. I apply three coats and then wipe off the excess with a damp sponge, leaving the glaze in the crevices so it accentuates the lines. The next step is to paint three coats of yellow underglaze for the hair, and a touch of red underglaze for the mouth and blush. These underglazes and the body will not have a glossy finish, but lastly I paint some clear transparent overglaze on the crown, which will be glossy in contrast. This is because the gold luster that I plan to paint on the crown later needs a glossy surface underneath.
After glaze firing:
The stuff that looks like fluffy clouds is called fiberfrax, it’s sometimes used for kiln insulation but I have found that small pieces of it work well to support ceramic sculptures in the kiln, making it less likely that delicate parts like arms or legs will “slump” or crack in the firing.
The two figures are a bit different, but pretty similar. I’m not sure yet which one I will choose for the final sculpture, but since they both turned out, I will definitely save the one I don’t use this time and maybe make a second version of this cloud-band sculpture sometime.
Next step is one last firing to add the gold luster on the crown, then I’ll add the object she holds which will be supported on the wire, and then I’ll combine the figure with the “cloud-band” part of the sculpture.
