Because bisque fired clay is very porous, I can anticipate that my dark lines will stick to the surface while I work on top of them with glazes – though, sometimes I lose a few.  As seen in the detail image, I used an ash glaze; a glaze that includes wood ash as a main component.  Ash glazes tend toward soft, warm, earthy colors.

Because they are sometimes created with nearly 50% ash, they are more difficult to apply because the ash absorbs the water in the glaze.  In this piece, I wanted to create a wash of color that would help to visually unify the separate images and balance the visual weight by drawing the viewer away from the figure – if only for a brief moment.  My solution was to prop the tiles and sling the slurry-like glaze onto the surface.  What a mess!

With heavy application, this glaze is a soft Naples yellow.  Where thin, the glaze tends toward brown.  Both colors are appealing, but all yellow or all brown wasn’t what I wanted.  Since slinging glaze is not the preferred method of application, I knew I would have to pray for the best and live with the results.