How to make and use batwash?

When I first bought my kiln, I knew the shelves needed to be protected from future glaze marks with som batwash. Batwash is a substance you can buy ready made in ceramic supply shops but it is very easy and much cheaper to make it yourself. I thought I'd share the recipe with you.
Here's what you need:

A container to mix the batwash in, a jar to keep it in, a sieve,

a spoon, a paintbrush, aluminium oxide, quarts, china clay and a scale.You need 60% Aluminium oxide - I use 180grams.

You need 20% China clay - I use 60grams.
You need 20% quarts - I use 60grams.
Add water until the substance is quite liquid so you can spread it out easily.
Put the substance through a sieve so that there is no chunks in the substance.
Normally, kiln shelves look like this.
Mine look like this:
I get the old batwash off to apply some new one. I do this about twice a year but it depends on how much you glaze and how the state of your shelves look after firing. I feel very confident that my shelves are protected and I don't have to worry about dripping glaze on my shelves.Looks much better - now it's ready to apply new batwash.You'll find that as soon as you put the brush on your shelves,
the substance will get sucked into the shelves.
Apply in the same direction and let it dry.
That's why I do this outside when it's sunny.When it's dry, apply another layer in the opposite direction.
Two layers will do fine unless you want to be absolutely sure, apply another one. And look how clean my shelves are now...

All ready for many new firings - yeah! :)

How to make Egyptian paste?

A little while ago, I decided that I needed to try out some recipes of Egyptian paste.
Egyptian Paste was used by the Egyptians, as far back as 7,000 years ago.
Lots of items made from this material have been found in Egyptian burial tombs. Egyptian Paste is a self-glazing, low-firing clay body that was probably discovered by accident back in those days. The typical 'turquoise' color of some Egyptian jewellery might remind you of Egyptian paste.
I did this to step out of my comfort zone and it was merely an experiment. I took some pictures while making the paste and I will share 2 recipes.
I have to warn you about the end result though, it is not what I thought it would be. But it's my own mistake as I fired the pieces too high. Silly me... I knew it was a low firing clay body but didn't want to fire my 'big' kiln for a few beads on that temperature so I just stuck it in my regular firing... ;)

Here is what you need:
(recipe of Sylvia Hyman)
39 gram of Nepheline seynite
6 gram of Soda Ash (natriumcarbonate)
6 gram of Soda bicarbonate
6 gram of Kaolien (China clay)
6 gram of Ball clay
37 gram of Flint (Quarts)
2 gram of Bentonite
2 gram of Coppercarbonate

Weigh all the ingredients.

Put 'em in a plastic bag.

Add water.

Kneed the mixture.

Put the mixture on a plaster plaque.

Move it about to get the excess water away
until the body was a bit more solid to work with.

But I soon found out that this is a 'short' body with little plasticity so I needed to add more water to actually be able to make small pieces with it.

I made some beads and placed them on stilts. I did this because I didn't want to place the beads on the kiln shelves as I didn't know how badly they would glaze itself.

The above beads were made with the first recipe. It was a dry and very difficult to handle body so I tried a second recipe which turned out to be very flexible and fun to work with. Here it is:

30 gram flint
30 gram quarts
40 gram bentonite
20 gram Natriumbicarbonate
4 gram copper carbonate

I could actually press it into some lace.

And roll over it...

I use a cutter to make it round.

And add holes to it to make it a button.

Let them dry thoroughly and it's important not to touch the pieces and disrupt the crystalline surface after the drying. Then fire it. Egyptian Paste is usually fired to a temperature range of 900°-1000°C (1650^o - 1800^o F, Cone 010 - 06) and I fired it at 1050°C.

This is how they came out of the kiln and obviously I knew instantly that they were fired too high as the turquoise beads (light geen, flexible paste) had a very rough surface and were not easy to get off the stilt. They can not be used for anything really as they scratch a lot.The black/green beads on the other hand look super - too bad that the body was so hard to work with as I love the luster that it has too it's surface.
I have more recipes if you are interested in trying out some.
I certainly had fun stepping out of my comfort zone!

Tutorial on Poppytalk Handmade

Today, one of my tutorials is published on Poppytalk Handmade. It's all about how to make an Easter decoration and use a leather punch tool.
Hop over here to find it. Enjoy!
If you leave a comment here, you'll have a chance to win the birdies I made for making the tutorial. :)

How to make happy Decopatched clouds?

Living in Belgium certainly has it's advantages: yummy chocolate, good beer and the real 'French' fries, with mayonaise of course...
Like every other country, it also has it's disadvantages: it rains a lot here.
And while the clouds are forming in the sky, looking daunting and grey, I dream of happy clouds. You know, colored clouds that make colored rain and makes everyone happy, even when it rains.

When I think of clouds, I also think of Maartje from Mamutopia on Etsy. She also has a lovely blog where I quite often take a peek to see with what fun creations she has come up with and I adore her weekly happy stats on saturday's.
Recently, I noticed that she has been producing an awesome amount of clouds. That's why I asked her to help me with my happy clouds. She send me some so that I could use them for making this happy cloud tutorial. Thank you, Maartje! :)

Here is what you need:
Decopatch paper, Decopatch glue, glue brush, pencil,
scissor, glass bottle (IKEA), glasses, jars,...

Draw clouds on the Decopatch paper.
This can be random clouds, I used Maartje's because
I love 'em & to hide I can barely draw. :)

Cut out the clouds.I think I have enough clouds. Apply some Decopatch glue on the bottle with the brush.Add the Decopatch cloud.

Take some more glue and brush it over the cloud.
That way it's protected against water.
Note: it is not dishwasher safe and can only cope
with a slight bit of cold water so it's used for
decorative purposes unless you add a thick layer of varnish.

The glue leaves a bit of brushmarks on the bottle.
If you don't like that, take some hot water,
a bit of detergent, a cloth and rub them away. Let it dry & then drink from the happy clouds.

I love drinking water and I fill one of these every day right from the tab. Hmm...

Jewellery display and price tags

While I haven 't had a chance to crochet for a while, I am really missing it and I can't wait to get back to it next week. But I've done some other cool things besides preparing for the fair.
I love a new project to tackle and making a jewellery display for our collaboration pieces was kind of a challenge. I wanted it to look clean and contemporary but also with a little twist.
I painted the frame, took the picture out and replaced it wit foam board.
Do you think I succeeded?I love the bended semi-transparant paper - it's so easy to hang earrings from too.
I also made new price tags from the left over transparant paper and foambord (used for making model houses). I'm so happy with the new look: clean, clear and modern. And sooo easy to make too.
Print your text on semi-transparant paper (I used 110g). Cut it out with a knife.
Measure how long the price tag is and cut the foamboard a bit longer.
To make the little cut line in the foamboard, I keep the part where I cut it out to put my ruler on. Makes cutting much easier.
Slide your knife, while holding it a bit to the side, through the foambord.
Then squeeze the paper into the foamboard.
So easy to make and good to look at. :)