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Beyond Wax Resist: Alternatives for Interesting Resist

Decoration on Your Ceramic Art
July 4, 2016

We’ve all used our trusty old friend wax resist to keep glaze from going where we don’t
want it to go, and it works like a charm. But that is not the only use for wax resist. Pottery
can also be decorated with wax resist and other types of resists like latex. And what about
using resists that aren’t quite as effective as wax or latex resist in order to get interesting
surface effects. So many possibilities!

Belgian potter Russel Fouts has done a great deal of experimenting with various
“permeable” resists and today, he shares some of the results of his experimentation. Russel
uses these resists on his smoke- red work, but they can also be used in combination with
any other glaze or ring treatments with great results. So give them a try! –Jennifer
Harnetty, editor.

 
Wax Resist De nition: 
Melted wax or wax emulsion used to prevent slip or glaze from adhering to a clay
surface, either in decorating, or in preparing work for glazing. Source: Clay: A Studio
surface, either in decorating, or in preparing work for glazing. Source: Clay: A Studio
Handbook.

Alternative Wax Resists

by Russell Fouts

I smoke re in an electric kiln using newspaper in aluminum foil saggars. Since the
combustible material is trapped inside the foil, there is almost no movement of the
smoke so it is prevented from making patterns on the pots. To compensate for this, I
rely on resists to create interesting surfaces. But the problem is that traditional
resists – like wax or latex – prove unsatisfactory because they resist too well and
don’t allow for “accidents” to happen. Traditional resists work by creating barriers
that repel liquids like slips, glazes, washes and over/underglazes, but I’m also
interested in controlling how much and where my work absorbs smoke.

Rethinking the concept of a resist and what makes it work, or not work, opens up a
whole new world of possibilities for resist decoration. My efforts are now entirely
directed toward the use of “permeable” resists. Resists that sort of resist and sort of
don’t; that block while still allowing some interaction with the surface underneath.
Once you understand how resists create barriers, you can broaden your resist
decorating “palette” and use their special characteristics in your work.

An expanded version of this article is included in Surface Decoration: Finishing

Techniques, available in the Ceramic Arts Daily Bookstore.

2 of 3

Non-Traditional Resists
What materials repel water? Think about all the different materials that contain
waxes, oils or greases, including the oil from your skin. Soften any of these resists by
warming them a little and the quality of the line changes. Here are some hard and
soft resist materials you can try.

Hard Resists

• Lipstick – makes a nice greasy line

• Eyebrow pencil
• Wax crayon – scratchy, “crayon-y” line
• Butcher’s grease pencil or china marker
• Chunk of wax or a candle – produces a very similar line to the china marker, and
you can adjust the width of the line by choosing bigger or smaller pieces
• Oil pastels – similar line to wax but fatter, and you can use it sideways.
• Bar of soap
• Leftover chocolate – (As a Belgian, this is a real sacri ce for me.) different kinds of
chocolate make different kinds of lines; the harder, the more scratchy, the softer, the
fatter the line.

Soft Resists

• Full strength white glue, wood glue or any acrylic glue – trail like slip or dilute for
brushing
• Acrylic oor polish – as the ads state “waterproofs and resists black heel marks”
• Acrylic artist’s medium
• Liquid beeswax – nice to decorate with and works in a pinch for waxing bottoms or
feet
• Paste wax or Vaseline – good for smudgy marks when applied with a cloth or
ngers
• Left over oil-based creams on your dresser
• Any oils – they can be brushed, smudged or spattered

 
Paper Resists

While paper resists won’t work on bisque where I do most of my decoration, tape
does and comes in many different forms and widths. Drafting and pin-striping tapes
come in extremely ne widths and are very exible. Stickers are also an option. If you
want a shape or thickness in a tape or sticker that isn’t available, cut the exact shape
you want out of paper, glue it to the pot with diluted white glue and smooth it down
with a rubber or foam roller. Or stick the edges of your paper cutout down with a
border of tape. You could also cut your design out of self-adhesive shelf paper or
even masking tape.

Application

Treat liquid or soft resist materials like any other decorating material. They are the
same as oxides, colorants, terra sigillatas, slips or glazes, and you can use any means
 same as oxides, colorants, terra sigillatas, slips or glazes, and you can use any means
you think of to apply them to a surface. Feel free to dip, pour, spatter (one of my
favorites), spray, splash, squirt or brush as inspiration directs you. Also, consider that
“bad” tools can often leave the most interesting marks. Look for orphaned tools;
balding brushes, spitting sprayers, decrepit sponges, ragged bits of cloth or loose bits
of string. How about a mop? Not a mop brush but the hoary, old, string mop standing
in the corner.

Safety
Most of the materials discussed are safe to use. All natural materials should
burn out safely in your kiln although you need a good venting system if you’re
ring indoors. Paper, tape and natural strings can either be left in place or
removed as you wish. Left on, the ash residue can leave interesting traces.
Plastics like acrylics and oor nishes require adequate ventilation. Trailed
white glue and pin striping tape should be removed before ring.
 

I hope you’re getting the idea. The list can go on and on. Basically ANYTHING that
makes a barrier against water or smoke works in some way and each one has its own
special character. Think about trying these techniques at different stages of the pot’s
or the decoration’s development. There are a lot of ideas here but I seriously doubt
that I’ve exhausted all the possibilities.

If you have any other non-traditional resist ideas to share, post them as comments
below.

Russel Fouts is a potter living in Brussels, Belgium. He specializes in a technique of

smoke ring in his electric kiln and also makes functional majolica work. To see more
of his work, visit www.mypots.com.

Originally published December, 2012.

Filed Under: Ceramic Decorating Techniques, Daily, Features, Methods and Techniques Tagged With: featured, Russel Fouts, wax
resist, wax resist ceramics, Wax Resist Decoration

Comments

Mary Palmer says

December 26, 2012 at 1:07 pm

Great ideas and I will give a couple a try as I am glazing today. I do have to argue one point with
Russel though, there really is no such thing as “leftover” chocolate. Heaven forbid! : )

Barbara Harvey says

December 26, 2012 at 7:11 pm

Would like to try this in my electric kiln, can you tell me what cone you are ring to with
the aluminum foil saggar?
Jim Galloway says
December 27, 2012 at 4:30 am

Another effect can be achieved by [1]waxing over a glazed area and [2]brushing over the waxed
area with another glaze.This can leave modulated areas and globules/spots on top of the base
glaze.

Russel Fouts says

December 27, 2012 at 6:03 pm

Barbara Harvey, You just need to burn the paper or, actually, get the paper to smoulder in the
saggar.

Paper burns at 451F (about 223c). Just keep the kiln around 500F. Longer will give you a
stronger smoke affect, shorter will give you less.

Don’t go over 650F or the foil will start to break up and let air back in.

Search this site. I also have articles on the ring and the wrapping technique.

Good luck

Nancy Thomas says

December 28, 2012 at 12:36 pm

I always thought that reduction in an electric kiln was bad for the coils, made them brittle or
something. Does anyone know anything about this? I would love to experiment with this but
don’t want to endanger the kiln as I work at a public high school.

Russel Fouts says

December 28, 2012 at 3:53 pm

Nancy, you’re not going to damage the elements at this temperature. You’re only going hot
enough to burn paper which only requires 452F (223c). Honestly, I’ve known people to do this in
there household oven. Also, if you bisque in between, you’ll clean / reoxidize the elements. I’ve
had this kiln since 1996 and have never replaced the elements. I also do ^04 maiolica in it. I also
have a friend in North Carolina who does saggar ring with oxides and sulfates in her electric
kiln. It’s a real mess when she opens it. She’s factored the price of kiln repairs into her cost of
doing business. Very sensible, I think. I wouldn’t worry about your kiln using my method. On the
other hand, this method will generate a little smoke so make sure your kiln is vented or re it
when no one is around.

Elinor Maroney says

November 3, 2014 at 10:22 am

Is a resist able to only resist and direct the smoke on terra sig pieces with nothing added over the
resist? In your Gallery you have many pieces with “soda resist.” Can you describe that? It doesn’t
seem to be in your resist lists.
I am working in Nicaragua with Potters for Peace and looking for different techniques to use at
very low temperatures – mostly on greenware. They mostly re one time only here to about
900°F. I have had trouble getting marks on the clay with organic materials inside foil without the
use of Ferric Chloride – which is not available here unless we make it ourselves! And I am still not
sure it will work on raw clay. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Merle Huntley says

November 3, 2014 at 4:58 pm

Great ideas, thanks!! Will give them a try, because the cold wax I have is awful. Unreliable,
uneven and t only for the trash! I look forward to experimenting and being less scared of
blowing up the works!

Kate Tonguis says

November 3, 2014 at 8:28 pm

I just nished a naked raku ring. It could work very well to dip your pieces in slip after they are
bisque red. 24 hours after that I then dip them in a low re white crackle glaze. The slip keeps
the glaze from sticking to the piece. The crackle glaze allows cracks to develop in the slip to allow
smoke to creep “under” the slip and permeate the terra sig surface of the pot.

Russel Fouts says

November 11, 2014 at 12:02 pm

Elinor – The full article in pdf format is on my resources page on my website. Smoke resist; terra-
sig and soda resist are explained there. There is also another document with some formulas.
There are many other documents you may nd interesting as well.

The problem with smoke red decoration on once red pots is that there is a lot of organic
matter in the clay. This is normally burned out in a bisque ring. If you once re, the organics
burning out are probably obscuring your decoration. I’d get rid of the foil and just try using terra-
sig, soda ash and other smoke resists to decorate the pots. See my article.

There are a lot of post ring decorating techniques that can be used as well.

Kate – I’ve done naked raku. Wally Asselbergs is a good friend of mine. Actually, the slip and glaze
in naked raku are acting as a resist against the smoke. Yet another semipermiable resist
technique.

My email address is on my website if you want to contact me directly.

Russel

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