Burnished Tropical Fish Tile

Designer: William Pulse

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Instructions

  1. Use a lightly moistened Synthetic Sponge to wipe down the piece to remove any dust.
  2. Use CB-604 Soft Fan to apply 3 very even coats of UG-230 Blue Grass to the tile. Change directions when applying the underglaze.
  3. To polish underglaze, the color needs to be slightly damp yet not tacky to the touch. Make a ball out of a few Kleenex tissues then wrap one sheet over the ball creating a powder puff ball. When the color has lost its sheen from the final coat of underglaze and the color is still damp but not tacky is when you start the polishing of the surface. If the tissue grabs the surface of the tile wait a couple of minutes more before polishing. Start out buffing the surface ever so lightly. Once the sheen starts to appear you can apply more pressure to the surface to a semi-gloss surface. The appearance should look like a polished wax surface. Let dry.
    1. Note: If you are doing a larger surface that cannot be polished in a given time, you can work in sections. Use can use AS957 Thin and Shade to remoisten an area slightly overlapping a previously polished area and continue the polishing of the underglaze. Also, some colors of Fundamentals Underglazes will polish more easily than other due to their chemical formulation.
  4. Transfer the pattern using a pencil and AC-230 Clay Carbon. If you are working on still damp color, use a film type transfer paper. The clay carbon is rather light on the underglaze surface. You can retrace over the lines with a pencil if the design is difficult to see.
  5. Apply 1 thin coat of SC-16 Cottontail using CB-404 Pointed Round or CB-110 Liner to the white areas of the design. You can paint over the entire dorsal fin. This will overcome any skips or pulling of the color during firing. If you want brighter green areas on the fishes fin’s, you can apply one coat of Cottontail to the tail and pelvic fin areas also.
  6. Redefine the sections in the dorsal fin with a pencil. Apply 2-3 Coats of SC-75 to the lower section in the dorsal fin using CB-110 Liner. Apply 2-3 Coats of SC-27 Sour Apple to the green dorsal and pelvic fins and tail areas using CB-110 Liner or CB-404 Pointed Round.
  7. Apply 2-3 more coats of SC-16 Cottontail to the white areas of the fish using CB-110 Liner or CB-404 Pointed Round.
  8. Apply 2-3 coats of SC-15 Tuxedo to the face marking, eye and sections in the tail fin using CB-110 Liner or CB-404 Pointed Round.
  9. Fire to shelf cone 04.
  10. Glaze the body area with 2-3 coats of S-2101 Crystal Clear Brushing using CB-404 Pointed Round. You can apply one coat on the other areas of the fish to produce an even shinier surface.
  11. Fire to shelf cone 05-06.

Supplies

Form

  • 6”x 6” Greenware Tile, leather hard preferred

Colors

  • UG-230 Blue Grass
  • SC-15 Tuxedo
  • SC-16 Cottontail
  • SC-27 Sour Apple
  • SC-75 Orange A-Peel
  • S-2101 Crystal Clear Brushing

Decorating Accessories

  • CB-604 Soft Fan
  • CB-110 Liner
  • CB-404 Pointed Round

Miscellaneous Accessories

  • Sponge
  • Water
  • Black Carbon Film Transfer Paper or AC-230 Clay Carbon
  • Pencil
  • Scissors
  • Kleenex tissues
  • Pattern

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