What Is Engobe In Ceramics

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.

What is engobe in ceramics.

An engobe has a similar make up to slip but is produced with less clay than a slip. 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. This post is excerpted from robin hopper s making marks. A clay slip coating applied to a ceramic body.

This is a way to decorate and put pottery pieces into place. The rest of the ingredients of an engobe are made up of flux or silica. Slip trailing is the application to a clay surface of lines of slip using a fine pointed dispenser. Have you heard the word engobes in pottery.

Slips used for decorating usually are mixed with water only unless specific qualities of fluidity or viscosity are desired. Engobes are high clay slurries that are applied to leather hard or dry ceramics and fire opaque. Unlike underglazes amaco engobes can be applied to wet or leather hard clays by brushing pouring or trailing thinly on wet or dry greenware. Engobe c singular.

But did you know that they are actually different. Slips are generally applied to leather hard work even though some can be applied to bone dry or even bisqueware. They are used for functional or decorative purposes. 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.

White or colored slip applied to pottery usually for decoration or to improve the surface texture see the full definition. It differs from glaze trailing in several ways.