Underglaze Silk Screen Transfer Experiments.

What fun to play with something new! Really happy with how these are turning out.

Tried several methods to silk screen images onto tissue paper for water tattoo like transfer onto clay.

(1) Straight Underglaze: too watery, flaked off paper once dried.

(2) Shaving Cream: used as a thickener (what was recommended by the silk screen company), gel made it too thick to go through the screen. ? if foam shaving cream would work better.

(3) Glycerin: worked great! A few drops in the underglaze thickened up the paint and allowed it to stick to the paper.

(4) Extender + Mason Stains: my favorite. Didn't make use of the underglazes, but gave sharp dark image that stayed on the paper and easily transfered. Now all I have to do is invest in more mason stains and find a local supplier for the extender medium.

Note: tissue paper works ok, but the best paper I found (hint from UAA professor Melissa Mencinni) has been recycled pattern paper from old sewing patterns. This paper is more durable and is closest to the commercial transfer papers one can buy from China or Japan.

Plan to experiment more with these during my upcoming workshops to make bowls for Bean's Cafe' Empty Bowl fundraiser. Will post photos of finished bowls soon.