Surface and decoration · Using resists
Wax, latex, tape and paper. Which one, and when it comes off.
A resist is anything that keeps glaze, slip or underglaze off a part of the pot you want left alone. Five materials do it, and the whole subject comes down to one question: does it need to come off before the kiln, or can the kiln take it off?
This page answers that question for each material, then walks the apply, the glaze-over, the beads and the peel with a tick list at every step. Six fixes, and six videos from potters who do not work here.
This is the short version: the one question, the four steps with tick lists, and the three failures. The material-by-material detail, the layering, and the questions are in the comprehensive version.
Read it, then watch it
Why this is written down and filmed, both.
Resists are a matching problem: five materials, four stages of clay, and a rule about which comes off before the kiln. That is a table, and tables are what pages are for. What a page cannot show is the peel: the moment latex or tape comes away from a matte glaze and either leaves a knife edge or takes the edge with it. Or the bead: the way glaze pulls into drops on wax, and the sponge that takes them off. That is what the six videos are for.
Use both, in this order
Read the matching band and answer the one question. Read the step for your resist. Watch the peel or the bead. Do it on glaze day with the tick list open.
The whole idea
Does it have to come off before the kiln, or can the kiln take it off?
That one question picks the resist. Wax and paper burn out in the firing, so they are for anything you will not touch again: a foot ring, a pattern under one glaze. Latex and tape have to be peeled, so they are for crisp edges and for layering, where you glaze, peel, and glaze again. Whatever you use: dry it before glazing, sponge the beads off wax, and peel latex and tape when the glaze is matte.
The five-minute version
The whole technique in six moves.
If you already glaze and you just want the shape of it, this is the shape of it. Everything below is these six moves, slowed down and with the places they fail marked.
Before glaze day
What you need on the table.
Five resists and a sponge. You will not use all five on one pot, and wax alone covers most of what most potters ever need.
Cold wax and a brush that only does wax, latex and a soaped brush if you want peelable edges, painter’s tape and a craft knife, wet newsprint for raw clay, a barely damp sponge and a needle tool. That is all of it.
Step one
Match the resist to the job and the stage.
Does it have to come off before the kiln, or can the kiln take it off? That is the question that picks the resist. Everything else, which brush, which stage, how long to wait, follows from the answer.
Wax and paper
Wax is the everyday resist. Brush it on bisque and glaze will not stick there; brush it on leather hard clay and slip or underglaze will not. It is permanent until the glaze firing burns it out, which is why it belongs on anything you will not touch again: the foot ring, a pattern under one glaze, a border. Paper is wet newsprint laid on leather hard clay and slipped or underglazed over, then peeled; anything left burns out in the bisque. It is the resist for raw clay.
Latex, tape, bands and stickers
Latex is brushed on bisque or over a first glaze, dries to a rubber skin, and peels off in one piece once the glaze over it has gone matte. It gives the cleanest edge of anything and it is the resist for layering, because you can glaze, peel and glaze again. Tape is latex you did not have to brush: straight lines, geometry, lettering cut with a knife. Rubber bands and vinyl stickers are tape in other shapes. All of them come off before the pot goes anywhere near a kiln, because none of them burn out cleanly.
By stage
Leather hard clay: paper first, wax second, latex if you must (it can pull clay), tape barely at all. Bisque: everything works. Over a first glaze: wax or latex, and latex peels cleaner. After the glaze firing: nothing on this page; that is a sandblasting mask, which is a different lesson.
Step two
Apply it to a clean surface, and let it dry all the way.
Wax goes on shiny and is ready when it is matte. One coat, from a brush that only ever does wax, on bisque that has been wiped with a damp sponge and allowed to dry. Ten minutes on a warm day, longer on a cold one. Glazing over wax that is still wet is how wax gets into a glaze, and wax in a glaze jar finishes the jar.
Latex goes on in two thin coats rather than one thick one, with a brush that has been soaped first, in a room with the window open. It is ready when it has gone from milky to clear and rubbery. Tape goes on dry bisque and then gets burnished down along every edge with a fingernail or a rib, because a tape edge that is not pressed down is an edge the glaze will wick under. Cut shapes with a craft knife after the tape is on the pot, not before. Paper is soaked until it is limp, laid on leather hard clay, and smoothed flat with a fingertip or a soft rib so there is no air under it, because an air bubble is a place slip will get to.
Whatever the resist, work with the pot on a banding wheel, use a small brush for the edges of a shape and a big one for the middle, and keep your fingers off the parts you have already done. A fingerprint of wax on a bisque pot is invisible until the glaze refuses to go there, at which point it is permanent.
Wax as a drawing tool
Resist for effect starts here. A brush loaded with wax drawing a leaf, a stripe, a word or a scribble on bisque is a drawing the glaze will go around. Dark glaze over a wax drawing gives a pale drawing. It is the fastest decoration on the glaze wall and it needs one brush. Bill van Gilder’s video below is three minutes of exactly this.
Between two glazes
First glaze, let it dry, wax or latex in a pattern over it, second glaze over everything. The resist sheds the second glaze so the first shows through, and at the edge where they meet the two glazes react. This is where resist stops being tidy and starts being interesting. Test tile first, because two stable glazes can run together.
Step three
Glaze over it, away from the edge, and sponge the beads off wax.
Brush away from the resist, never toward it. A brush stroke that ends at a wax line pushes glaze into the wax. A stroke that starts at the line and moves away leaves the line clean. If you dip, dip with the resisted area going in last and coming out first where you can, and hold the pot still for a second so nothing runs into the pattern.
Then the beads. Glaze does not run off wax, it pulls into drops on it, and every drop you leave fires as a dot. On a foot ring that is a sharp bump; on a decorated surface it is a spotty pattern. Go over every waxed area with a sponge wrung nearly dry while the glaze is still damp, and lift the beads. It takes a minute per pot. It is the single most skipped step on this page and the reason waxed feet come out of kilns with pimples.
Paper works the same way with slip: brush the slip away from the paper edge, or pour it, and keep it thin enough that it does not build up against the paper into a wall. Underglaze over paper wants two coats, brushed in different directions, both away from the edge.
Step four
Peel at matte. Then only wax and paper go to the kiln.
There is a window for the peel. Latex and tape come off when the glaze over them has lost its shine but is not yet powdery: leather hard glaze, if that helps. Peel too early and the wet glaze drags across the line. Peel too late and the dry glaze has bonded across the edge and chips when the resist moves.
Lift a corner with a needle tool. Pull tape back on itself at a low angle, not straight up. Pull latex slowly in one piece; a good latex peel comes off like a glove and leaves a knife edge. If the glaze is thick, score along the tape edge with the needle first so the break is where you want it. Paper comes off when the slip has gone matte and the paper is still damp: needle under one corner, lift, done. If the paper has dried on, dampen it with a brush and wait a minute.
Then check what is still on the pot. Wax and paper can stay; the glaze firing burns wax away below the temperature anything else happens, and the bisque burns paper. Latex, tape, rubber bands and stickers cannot: latex leaves a residue that marks the glaze, tape leaves adhesive, and rubber bands smoulder. None of them go to the drop-off table. If you are not sure whether every scrap of tape is off, run a fingertip round the pot; tape edges catch.
Watch it done
Now watch six people use six resists.
Watch this one, then go wax a foot.
None of these potters work here or know we exist. Between them they cover wax on glaze day, latex, tape, paper on greenware, wax as a drawing tool, and wax between two glazes. Nothing but the still frame loads until you press play.
Twelve minutes on wax: the foot, wax between two glazes, and the beads. The other five videos are in the comprehensive version.
When it goes wrong
Six ways it goes wrong, and what to do about each.
The three failures that happen on the first night.
Pick the one that looks like your pot. The first three are the resist itself. The last three are the edge, the paper and the brush.
Little fired dots all over the waxed area
Glaze beads up on wax instead of running off it, and every bead you did not wipe away fired as a dot. Wax sheds most of the glaze, never all of it.
After the glaze goes on, go over every waxed area with a barely damp sponge and lift the beads before they dry. It takes a minute and it is the whole difference between a clean resist and a spotty one.
On a foot, a fired bead is a sharp bump: a diamond pad, wet, takes it off. On a decorated surface, the dots are part of the pattern now, and honestly they often look intentional.
Wax got somewhere it should not, and the glaze will not stick
A drip, a fingerprint, or a brush that touched the wrong place. Wax is permanent until the kiln takes it, and glaze will not go on over it no matter how many times you try.
Wax with the pot on a banding wheel and a steady hand, a small brush for edges, and the piece dry before it goes near the glaze bucket. Wax is the last thing you do before glazing, not the first thing you do on glaze day.
Scrape the surface lightly with a rib to take the wax off the bisque, then sponge it with hot water. Most of it lifts. If it is a large area, a second bisque firing burns it out completely, and our bisque is free.
The glaze edge tore or chipped when the resist came off
Latex or tape peeled too late, when the glaze had fully dried and bonded across the edge, or too early, when it was still wet enough to drag. There is a window, and it is when the glaze has lost its shine but is not yet powder.
Peel at leather hard glaze: matte, not shiny, not dusty. Pull tape back on itself at a low angle rather than up. Score along the edge of a tape line with a needle tool before peeling if the glaze is thick.
Touch up the torn edge with a small brush of the same glaze, or lean into it: a broken edge under a glaze that breaks reads as a decision.
The glaze bled under the tape and the line is fuzzy
The tape was not pressed down, or the bisque surface was too rough for tape to seal against, or the glaze was thin enough to wick under the edge.
Burnish the tape edge down with a fingernail or a rib after applying it. Use a tape made for curves and rough surfaces; masking tape is the worst of them. Brush the first coat of glaze away from the tape edge rather than toward it.
A fuzzy line can be sharpened with a damp cotton bud along the edge while the glaze is matte, or covered with a second line of wax and a darker glaze.
The paper lifted the slip edge when it came off
Peeled too wet, so the slip was still fluid and came with the paper, or too dry, so the slip had bonded across the paper edge and cracked when the paper moved.
Peel when the slip has gone matte and the paper is still damp. A needle tool lifts one corner; the rest follows. If the paper has dried and stuck, dampen it with a brush and wait a minute.
At leather hard the lifted edge can be pressed back down with a fingertip and slipped over lightly. Once dry, it is a rough edge under glaze, which is fine on some pots.
The brush is stiff and the glaze jar has wax in it
Wax sets in a brush, and latex sets harder. A brush that has touched either and then went into a glaze jar has put wax into the glaze, and wax in a glaze jar means the whole jar is contaminated.
One brush for wax, one for latex, both marked, never near the glaze jars. Soap the latex brush before loading it. Wash the wax brush in hot soapy water the moment you finish, before the wax sets.
A stiff wax brush softens in hot water. A latex brush is usually gone. A contaminated glaze jar is finished, and replacing it is on the member who did it; tell the studio team rather than putting it back on the wall.
How it works here
At The Clay Hole, wax is a glaze day tool and the jars are sacred.
This page is written for potters everywhere. A few things are specific to our building, so you know before you start.
Four things to know here
Our wax stations are a Purple and Black Level tool for brush-on glazing, and open to every Level when you are dipping. For brush-on work at Green and Yellow, bring your own wax and your own brush for it. Latex, tape and paper are bring-your-own for everyone. A brush that has touched wax or latex never goes into a glaze jar; a contaminated jar is finished and replacing it is on the member. Every pot goes into our kilns with a naked bottom on a cookie, and wax is how the bottom stays naked when you dip.
Wax by Level
The wax stations are set up for glaze day. For brush-on glazing they are a Purple and Black Level tool, and Green and Yellow Level Members bring their own bottle of cold wax and their own brush. For dipping, every Level uses the wax stations, because every dipped pot needs a waxed foot. Everyone needs the free brush-on glaze and underglaze certification before anything on the glaze wall, and the dipping buckets have their own training.
Latex, tape and paper
All bring-your-own. Latex wants ventilation, so use it near a door and not over the glaze table. Tape and paper are yours to bring and yours to take home; a strip of tape left on a shared table ends up on somebody else’s pot.
The jars
A brush that has touched wax or latex never goes into a glaze jar, and the glaze brushes never go into the wax. One drop of wax in a jar of glaze contaminates the whole jar, the jar is finished, and replacing it is on the member who did it. Mark your wax brush. Wash it at the sink, not in the glaze water.
Naked bottoms and the kiln
Every glazed piece goes in on a cookie with a bare bottom, which is what the wax on the foot is for. Wax and paper burn out in our firings, cone 05 bisque and cone 5½ glaze. Latex, tape, rubber bands and stickers do not, so please make sure every scrap is off before the pot goes to the drop-off table.
Questions people actually ask
The ones that come up every week.
Which resist do I use?
Ask one question: does the resist need to come off before the kiln, or can the kiln take it off? Wax and paper burn out, so they are for anything you will not touch again before firing: a foot ring, a pattern under one glaze. Latex and tape have to be peeled, so they are for edges you want crisp and for anything layered, where you glaze, peel, and glaze again.
Can I use resist on greenware?
Paper, yes: wet newsprint on leather hard clay with slip or underglaze over it is the classic. Wax works on greenware for slip and underglaze, and burns out in the bisque. Latex works but can pull clay when it peels. Tape barely sticks to raw clay at all. On bisque, all four work.
Does the wax burn off completely?
Yes, in the glaze firing, well below the temperature anything else happens. It leaves no trace, which is why the foot of every glazed pot can be waxed. Latex and tape do not: latex leaves a residue that can mark the glaze, and tape leaves adhesive, so both come off before the pot goes to the kiln.
Why does the foot need wax at all?
Every pot in our kilns goes in on a cookie with a naked bottom, and wax is how the bottom stays naked while you dip or brush. Wax the foot, glaze the pot, sponge the beads off the foot. If you brush glaze carefully, you can skip the wax, but nobody dips without it.
What is the difference between cold wax and hot wax?
Cold wax is the emulsion in a bottle: brush it on, let it dry, done. Hot wax is paraffin melted in a pan, sometimes with oil, applied hot with a brush. It is faster, harder and more traditional, and it is a fire and fume hazard that does not belong in a shared studio. Everything on this page is cold wax.
Why does latex smell like that?
Ammonia, which keeps the latex liquid in the bottle. It is unpleasant rather than dangerous in the amounts a brush carries, but use it with ventilation, and if you have a latex allergy, this is not the resist for you. Wax does the same job on most pots.
Can I put wax on top of glaze and then glaze again?
Yes, and it is the most interesting thing on this page. First glaze, wax pattern over it, second glaze over everything. The wax sheds the second glaze so the first shows through in the pattern, and where the two glazes meet at the edge of the wax they do something neither does alone. Test it on a tile first; two glazes that are each stable can run together.
Related lessons
Six lessons that sit next to this one.
Three to read next.
A resist is only ever half of a technique. These are the glazing and decorating pages it pairs with.
That is the whole technique
One question. Apply, dry, glaze away from the edge, sponge the beads, peel at matte.
Your first waxed foot will have three fired dots on it because you skipped the sponge. That is normal, and the second one will not. Resist is the cheapest decoration on the glaze wall, and the potters whose surfaces you admire are mostly using one brush of wax and a good peel.
If you want each resist in full, the layering between two glazes, the studio rules and the answers to the questions everybody asks, switch to the comprehensive version at the top. Otherwise, go wax a foot ring.
Written for potters everywhere. Where our studio does things differently, the page says so.
Which version would you like to print?
Both print clean, with the videos turned into labelled boxes you can search for later.