What Is Engobe In Ceramics

A clay slip coating applied to a ceramic body.

What is engobe in ceramics.

Discovering the ceramic surface available in the ceramic arts shop. An engobe is similar to a clay slip that is applied to the surface of a piece of pottery in order to change its color or add decorative accents. Unlike underglazes amaco engobes can be applied to wet or leather hard clays by brushing pouring or trailing thinly on wet or dry greenware. But did you know that they are actually different.

Engobes are high clay slurries that are applied to leather hard or dry ceramics and fire opaque. It differs from glaze trailing in several ways. Slips used for decorating usually are mixed with water only unless specific qualities of fluidity or viscosity are desired. The rest of the ingredients of an engobe are made up of flux or silica.

It the covering slip layer on a ceramic piece is relatively thin there is usually no problem but once it is applied thickly enough to function as an engobe then it must be considered a separate entity which has its own coefficient of thermal expansion. Slips are generally applied to leather hard work even though some can be applied to bone dry or even bisqueware. Slips are most commonly known for being just a mix of clay and water and usually a colorant such as an oxide or a stain. White or colored slip applied to pottery usually for decoration or to improve the surface texture see the full definition.

We ll keep you updated with new products design trends promotions and any exciting happenings around the studio. Can you apply slip to bone dry clay. An engobe has a similar make up to slip but is produced with less clay than a slip. This post is excerpted from robin hopper s making marks.

This is a way to decorate and put pottery pieces into place. Have you heard the word engobes in pottery.