Waterlilies Ball Vase

5 inches Tall

This was a fun project.  First, I traced some waterlilies and lily pads on the vase.  Then I went over the design with the Stabilo pen.  The waterlilies were painted in Mother of Pearl luster.  For the leaves, I used Sapphire, Turquoise, Apple Green and Green Luster.  The branches were painted with Green and Brown Lusters.   The background was left bare for this fire.  I got an effect on the leaves, which was not planned but not altogether unattractive.  I usually have to carry my pieces home in my car from the studio.  I had thought the luster was dry enough on the vase to wrap it, as usual, in a plastic grocery wrap.  Since it was late when I got home, I did not think to unwrap it until the next morning.  As a result, the plastic stuck to the leaves on the vase a little, creating a kind of marbelized look.   The Mother of Pearl had dried enough so that it was not affected.  I went ahead and fired the vase to Cone 018.

On the Second Fire, where the marbelizing did not look right, I painted darker luster over that area, in various patterns.  The vase was again fired to Cone 018.

The Third Fire consisted of masking the lilies, leaves and branches with resist and then "daubing" Turquoise Luster and Dispersing Liquid all over the background, letting the fluids run sideways around the vase, to create the illusion of water. Vase was fired to Cone 018.

On the Fourth Fire, the waterlilies, leaves and branches were outlined with Liquid Bright Gold and the vase was fired to Cone 018.

The background "water" was so light that, from any distance, it was hard to distinguish the leaves and lilies from the background.  So I applied resist to the waterlilies, leaves and branches, making sure to cover the Liquid Bright Gold outline,   and painted the whole background with Blue Luster, thinned with Luster Essence.   Then I fired it to Cone 018.  After that application, the lilies and leaves were much more distinguishable.

I gave this vase to my good friend, Nora.