I use the newspaper resist method a lot with my students, so I thought I’d share some of the techniques.

I use slips mainly because they are cheaper than under-glazes. I mix up a white slip using roughly 50 percent china clay and 50 percent ball clay. I achieve the colours using 10 percent body stains that I buy from Potclays. I sometimes mix up a blue slip by adding 2 percent cobalt. I always put the slip through an 80s mesh prior to use.

Before applying any colour I always cover the pots to be decorated with a white slip. If the pot is a plate then I will pour the slip inside and pour it out again. If the pot is, say, a large coiled vase shape then I will pour the slip inside the pot and pour it out again then leave the pot to dry overnight and then paint 4 layers of white slip onto the outside allowing the slip to dry between layers.

The pot is now ready for decorating. You may want to add colour to the pot before applying any newspaper, for instance if you are trying to create a landscape then you may want to add greens and browns for the land and blue for a sky.

The newspaper is cut with scissors for simple shapes and using craft knives and cutting mats for more complex shapes. Because printed newspaper can be quite distracting for cutting complex shapes, I sometimes use blank newspaper print. Colour is applied using sponges.

Method of applying newspaper resist to a tile:

Here is a method of using newspaper resist to create a stain glass effect;

 

The following is a more complex stencil;

 

 

Here is a “stain glass” window style pot. The stencil was just a series of random shapes:

 

The following pot is made with multiple simple stencils:

 

This pot uses a more complex “graffitti” style stencil:

 

Two more newspaper stencil pots;