Question about overglaze

[CarolCardona]

Hi Everyone: I have a question concerning overglazed designs. If a piece does have an overglazed design does this mean it was not used commercially? Is it just a souveneir (sp)?
Why would a business order china with an overglaze? Wouldn't it be a given this would not last as long as an underglaze and therefore not be cost efficient? Anyone's ideas would be appreciated.


Carol Cardona

[Jeff-Pyrex]

Good Evening Carol,

I'm no expert, but would guess that underglaze decoration was considerably more costly. This is the only logical explanation to me for just the reasons you've mentioned. This sounds like a question for Barbara.

Jeff

[dbstoneware]

Hi Carol,

Found this information in Jo Cunningham's book, "American Dinnerware."

"Overglaze - design applied to clayware after it has been fired and glazed. Because they are not subjected to high temperatures, the colors in such decoration tend to be more vivid than those in underglaze designs."

"Underglaze - a ceramic decoration that is applied directly to the biscuit, or unglazed body, and then covered with a protective glaze coating that makes it highly resistant to wear."

I hope that the above information answers your questions; as I think that you are correct in your assumptions.

Best,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dick

[Barbara Conroy]

A commercial customer may order overglaze decorated ware due to the limitations of the manufacturer. E.g, there are number of companies that decorate glaze fired ware only. These are particularly popular with very small or exclusive foodservice customers. Others require very bright or metallic colors, which must be fired overglaze.

Please read RC Vol 1, page 350-351, especially the right column on page 351, for clarification on these processes.

Barbara