Mittens - April 2012

After the success of the bootee, I then knitted two mittens from the same knitting pattern. I threaded one with a ribbon at the wrist and the other I threaded with a small knitted plait. These were then dipped in the slip in the normal way. I painted the ribbon with a copper oxide and slip mixture to contrast with the  whiteness of the bone china. I decided to glaze these with a transparent gloss glaze to compare them with the matt finish of the bootie. Normally you would bisquet fire first, then glaze, then fire up to stoneware. However, because the items are so fragile, I decided to try a 'raw firing', putting them in the kiln only once and taking them up to stoneware temp.

It was a risk firing the mittens straight up to s/w with a transparent glaze on, however, they survived, The risk is that they could explode in the kiln, thereby damaging other pieces. The reason they survived is because they're very thin and 'fit' the adjustment of a glaze to a clay.

I am very pleased with how the mittens have come out. I quite like the glaze on the surface as it doesn't take anything away from the texture of the wool or the pattern. Adding a glaze also increases the strength slightly as it increases the thickness of the surface. It also fills some of the holes in between the stitches making the surface more robust.

I particularly like the mitten with the ribbon as I like the addition of the copper oxide. It helps to define the ribbon from the rest of the mitten. I'm not as keen on the plaited cord that I made. The downside is that the oxide has run into the wool part of the mitten and i didn't want that. I can add the oxide to the ribbon and then thread it into the mitten. However, having tried this, the oxide falls off when threading it through the holes of the mitten. In conclusion I think I just need to be more careful when painting on the oxide..