Mary Gosden Studio

 The Art of Porcelain or Onglaze Painting

The technique of painting porcelain is over 2000 years old! The Chinese developed their technique of applying certain pigments made from minerals to their porcelain, then heating them at very high(1200 +degrees farenheit) temperatures. This extreme temperature causes the glaze to melt, thus allowing the pigments to become a part of the glaze. We have many terms for this technique: China Painting, Porcelain Painting, On-Glaze , and Mineral Painting. Each painting on this website has been designed and executed solely by the artist and created in her own studio. Many different materials are used to create different effects of texture, color, and even the mood of the piece. Fiberglass, fusing glass and porcelain "jewels" onto china, matte paint, lusters, metallics and incising (chipping off) off the glaze are just a few of the many effects used today. Painting on glass is virtually the same technique, in that the paint is applied in the same manner and fired in a kiln. The difference is that glass cannot hold up in the heat required to melt porcelain glaze. Glass mineral paints contain more flux (ground glass) to adhere at a lesser temperature. Below is the progression of painting one piece. Each time it's painted, that layer of paint is fired in the kiln to maturity. Then the piece is painted again, to add depth, more colors and other materials, such as luster, gold, etc.

     Stages of Porcelain Painting and Firing

   2nd Firing: shows incised glaze, penwork, first china paint colors.

                                   3rd fire: Liquid Bright Gold

                      4th fire: platinum and mother of pearl luster

                                      5th fire: black linear work

           6th fire: more linear details and shading of paint colors
 

                             Sandblasted Porcelain

Detail of sand blasted plate: Bisque area behind the dragonflies, gray "swoosh" and darkest sections of the building are all blasted away. China paint is applied to the building, lusters are dispersed over the bisque swoosh. this gives a 3rd dimension to a 2 dimensional piece. It gives a sculptural effect, and the light blue in the bisque area is meant to give a feeling of clouds or smoke rising. The purple is china paint, applied by pen.We refer to the technique simply as "penwork." We thin the paint and use a dip pen (crow quill) to draw it onto the surface.

    Top of the Chrysler Building in New York. Deep sandblasting in              recessed areas, painted with platinum and other lusters.

 This tile also depicts the Chrysler Building in New York. The borders are sandblasted with a cityscape design. The building is platinum, with matte paint details. The background is matte paint for a foggy, soft ambiance.

In this beach scene, the actual beach is sand blasted.

 
This close-up shows the depth of the beach area. I sprayed the paint with water to disperse it and create texture.