Glaze Or Not To Glaze Ceramics

Glazing your ceramics serves several purposes.

Glaze or not to glaze ceramics.

The optimum technique appears to be polishing ceramic restorations and not placing glaze and stain. However while facial stains do not wear as rapidly as occlusal surface glaze they can wear off if not fired properly as we have discussed. Glazing only partially covers the edge of a tile and the bottom of the tile is a completely different color than the glaze on top. Some are suggesting staining and glazing only the facial surfaces of restorations.

Glazing is a long and elaborate process although it is not too hard to learn and your results will improve with constant practice. If you are working with new tiles you can easily tell if a porcelain tile is glazed or not by looking at the side of the tile or the underside. The glaze which may contain lead to facilitate the melting of glaze particles fuses to the pottery when it is fired in a kiln a special oven used to bake clay. Not only does it add a safe sealed coating to your bisque fired wares making it waterproof and food safe it also brings your work to life with any color you wish to create.

Glazes first appeared on stone work in the late 3000s bc and ancient egy. As you know glazes are responsible both for decorating the pottery and for crafting an attractive glossy surface that protects the pottery from wear tear and water.