Coaster Tutorial Part 2 0f 2

 

 

 

 

When we last left our coasters in progress we had finished painting the decoration.  Now we are ready to glaze and fire them.  If you missed part one of the tutorial see it here.   

Why glaze them you ask?  Because the glaze gives them the high gloss surface I love.

 

I use Duncan Envision Clear glaze - IN1001 glaze. This glaze is cone 06 and is lead free and non toxic.  I have tried Duncan's Pure Brilliance glaze, I find it hard to work with.

 

 The glaze goes on an opaque blue, but fires clear.  While this glaze is not considered a dipping glaze I often dip and pour this glaze on my other pottery pieces.  Here I am using a brush because it makes clean up of the bottoms easier.

 

I use a soft hake brush to paint on 3 coats of the glaze. The glaze has to dry between coats. When the final coat of glaze is dry to the touch I wipe off any glaze that may have gotten on the bottom of the coasters.  I wear gloves when I glaze because the glaze leaves a blue stain.  The stain is not permanent and will go away in an hour or two if I forget to use the gloves.

 

A hake brush is a style of brush made by a number of companies see an example here. 

 

Here are the coasters with the glaze on them and ready to go into the kiln .

 

 

 

It is always fun to open the kiln and see all your finished creations.  I just love that bright shiny surface. 

 

But we are still not done. Now we have to put the non-skid rubber pads on the back.  You don't want to scratch up your friends table tops. 

 

 

 

I get the non-skids from the same place I get my tiles and if I order 100 tiles I order 100 non-skids, that way I know I always have a non-skid for each of my coasters.

 

 

See the non-skids here.

See the tiles here.

 

 

 

I sell the coasters in sets of 4, so as I am putting on the rubber pads I start to get them into their groups.

 

 

 

The coasters are stacked all facing the same way. We have put a lot of work into them and if we stacked them willy-nilly it would just look sloppy.  Now the groups of 4 are all set up and ready for the last step.

 

 

I use monofilament fishing line to tie the groups. The clear monofilament is almost invisible.  But for this photo I used a colored string so you could see it.  I put the knot on the bottom where it is hidden when the coasters are displayed.

And Voila, the coasters are finished and ready to head to their new home.

 

 

Note:

 

I have no affiliation with any of the suppliers I mentioned.  All of these products are available from a number of suppliers. There maybe suppliers closer to where you live, which might decrease your shipping costs.  And of course you can always "Go on the Goggle" to find these products.