clay: rice paper decals

I guessed that the porcelain casts I had poured of a soap dish and a bud vase were just about bone dry because they were so small. I wanted to decorate them though with rice paper decals with paintbrush and water. Would the water make them crack? I would just to have to experiment and see.  

No cracking! I tried to just soak the rice paper and not the dry clay with paintbrush and water. Enough water for the rice paper to adhere to the pot. Not too little water that the underglaze from the rice paper wouldn't transfer, but not so much water that the green ware would crack.

I kind of wish though that I didn't cover as much area with the rice paper because I like the smooth but unglazed porcelain surface to contrast with the glossy colored interior. These two pieces are safely on the green ware shelf ready for their bisque fire. I will however paint the bisque with yellow underglaze in the interior of the vase and the bottom of the soap dish. Then I'm going to leave the exteriors raw and glaze the interiors with a clear matte or glossy glaze for the final mid firing. Yesterday I poured another soap dish and another bud vase and fucked them up. I think there's too much water now in my slip, and so I'll open the gallon canister up and let some evaporate and mix the shit out of it to that thick gloppy consistency. I'm also thinking that I don't care much for the shapes of these commercial molds. Methinks a trip to the hardware store is coming soon for planks of wood and clamps to make cottle boards and a bag of plaster to make some plate and bowl slump molds. I loved the plates I'd been making from the metal tray forms from the Goodwill and the bowls from the dollar store though I will continue to cast in the meantime these Duncan molds (there is a mold for a jug which would be cool for storing cooking or olive oil) and see if I can decorate their surface in a way to make them contemporary and indicative of my hand.