Experimenting with copperoxide

Last year I have experimented a lot with the effects of copperoxide on porcelain. The first time I used it, I immediately saw its beauty. The range of greens – from very light to almost black – suits my porcelain sculptures very well and deepens the expression of the works. The layer thickness determines the final result but this is not as easy as it seems. If the layer is too thin, you won’t see any of it after firing.

This also happened with this sculpture, Consider the lilies. Initially, I applied latex dots on bisquit fired porcelain to make a pattern of a tiger lily so that a ‘negative’ pattern would be created, see first picture below the text. That means green on the face and the pattern cut out, so white. Unfortunately, nothing of the copperoxide was left on the face because I used it too thin. To apply copperoxide you thin it with water and paint it with a brush in various layer thicknesses.

I decided to try it a second time but this time the other way round, see second picture below the text. I applied the copperoxide as a lily pattern – dark on white-  and fired it a third time. Again, the result was too minimal. Big sigh but never give up….. I applied the copper oxide another time but  much thicker now. After the fourth firing (first time at 980 degrees, the other three times at 1250 degrees, I’m glad I have solar panels), I tensely opened the kiln and was worried for a moment that it was too intense. After looking at the sculpture for a few minutes, I was convinced: it had turned out well.

Conclusion: working with copper oxide gives beautiful results but it doesn’t always go well in one go. The effect of the layer thickness is difficult to estimate but fortunately it can always be put back into the kiln for a second or third of even fourth try. And the more experience I get, the more I get the hang of it.