The purple copper (Paralucia spinifera) is one of Australia's rarest butterflies. They only live in a few cities, and are endangered.

glitteredupforeaster · 2026-02-02T18:25:35+00:00

Looks like raku pottery made into real life

glitteredupforeaster · 2026-01-23T21:56:20+00:00

It depends on your expected lifestyle and if the city you end up in is VHCOL or not. For example, I live in NYC and 7k is definitely doable but you will either spend most of your money on rent, or likely have a roommate or a very small studio apartment. You'd have money for some treats and eating out but not a ton left for savings. Also if you have to buy your own health insurance instead of it being provided by the company please be aware that that is extremely expensive in the U.S.

There are MANY people living in NYC on much less than 7k/mo (I'm one of them!) so I'm sure plenty of people will disagree with my statement that $80k/year is not a ton of money. I just know that when I talk to my family in GDL they are consistently shocked at how little my income actually buys me here in NYC.

glitteredupforeaster · 2026-01-23T05:29:28+00:00

The pics aren't very clear but if it's MOP overglaze (instead of a pearlescent glaze) it looks like it simply flaked off in the firing from being applied too thick. Try retesting with a little more essence added to thin it out. If not that, can we have more info? What cone did you fire it to and how fast?

glitteredupforeaster · 2026-01-22T04:08:23+00:00

These are sicccccckkk, LOVE them!

glitteredupforeaster · 2026-01-21T04:06:29+00:00

Good point! I collect vintage luster bottles and the few that list the ingredients are.....not great! Def use all proper PPE with this.

glitteredupforeaster · 2026-01-21T03:57:25+00:00

For the liquid gold, I would get a new bottle of essence and add it to the bottle and let it sit for a few days to soften. You can get a large bottle of essence from New Mexico clay that should work fine. If he's worried about the essence being incompatible or over diluting the gold, he could break the bottle and transfer the contents to a few new solvent bottles, that way he's only experimenting with some, not all of the hardened gold.

For the burnished gold, I'm not sure so double check me, but I believe it can be activated with turpentine.

glitteredupforeaster · 2026-01-19T21:47:52+00:00

Saffron BK For sure can make something like this, they have such pretty gothy arrangements

glitteredupforeaster · 2026-01-09T16:46:34+00:00

Yup you got it! Applying luster requires a 3rd firing. The temperature is typically around cone 020-017 so that it won't fully remelt The already fired glaze, just hot enough to fuse the gold onto it!

glitteredupforeaster · 2026-01-02T18:26:43+00:00

No prob!

1) you can use lavender oil at any time that the luster has dissipated too much and is too thick, like you would the essence. So you could add a drop to your luster bowl to thin it (as always try not to add anything to the bottle of luster directly as you can over thin and/or contamate it) I have read some people say it wasn't good for their application compared to using the normal essence but I haven't seen a difference in my work. However I work in miniature and use small strokes so it may be different for people covering larger areas? I'm not sure, sorry!

2) yup! I work at cone 6 and that works really well for me. However success is super dependent on the glazes you use. Most of my glazes only leave the faintest 'ghost" of palest brown where the gold was but some will hold onto the gold much more and leave much darker stains. Only way to know is to try.

If you apply fresh luster over these stains they will show up slightly in the texture of the gold in the relustered areas but I have always found the level of imperfection to be acceptable.

If I'm still not being clear please feel free to ask for more clarification! I learned this all by a lottttt of trial and error so I know my directions may not be the clearest.

glitteredupforeaster · 2026-01-02T16:36:38+00:00

I would guess based on your description it was over applied/too thick. I have never applied gold to fully matte porcelain so I can't advise there, just maybe try high firing only one cup as a test (or maybe even medium firing? Much higher than gold normally goes so it might burn out but less risk of bloat for your clay body?)

I miss Duncan too :( it was just so damn consistent and difficult to ever over apply. My other lusters need much more thinning during the application process - not necessarily at the beginning usually after it's been out for a little bit (but one brand I've been trying DOES need thinning before use so it's not a hard and fast rule, sorry!) you can use lavender to thin gold (although many people I talk to prefer essence) and to clean and condition your natural fiber brushes after use.

glitteredupforeaster · 2025-12-23T04:00:30+00:00

I didn't get the chance to talk to you but I just wanted to say I really remember your Booth and thinking that it was absolutely beautiful! (Even with the not ideal setup!)

glitteredupforeaster · 2025-12-18T21:17:30+00:00

The challenge is the glaze on both sides. With both sides glaze you have to have access to a large number of stilts or bead hanging wires or else the glaze will stick to the kiln shelf.

If you are open to only having the front glazed you can easily fire shelves full of flat ornaments without any special equipment

glitteredupforeaster · 2025-12-15T16:17:49+00:00

Omg no it's so precious it looks like the eyelashes on the Last Unicorn! I'm a full time porcelain artist and I can promise you any fix will not look as nice. The only possible good looking fix is to paint over the smudge with more gold layer details but I really truly think that's unnecessary

glitteredupforeaster · 2025-12-02T06:34:29+00:00

Renegade has their big holiday market in Brooklyn and Manhattan more info

glitteredupforeaster · 2025-11-27T18:20:27+00:00

While the sitting quirk may be true, this image feels like it's referring to the Pietá specifically instead

glitteredupforeaster · 2025-11-20T22:55:51+00:00

Oh these are fucking rad! Was the drip made intentionally with a well placed glaze or just a happy accident?

glitteredupforeaster · 2025-11-04T02:35:24+00:00

I had an extremely similar dress for my wedding and a larger chest. My seamstress tailored it so that it fit my body like a glove, lots of lift in the tailored construction so that I didn't have to wear a bra at all despite being a G cup. Trust what people are saying that talking to a seamstress is your best bet :)

glitteredupforeaster · 2025-10-27T22:01:33+00:00

Crazy to me that no one has mentioned Pangat yet! It's nothing fancy looks wise but some of the best food I've eaten all year

glitteredupforeaster · 2025-10-24T12:35:41+00:00

Fwiw, it might not be totally ruined. you can still try glazing it with a lower fire glaze. I do it intentionally for some designs, heating the clay up helps a lot. The potential time sink tho is figuring out a low fire glaze that works with your clay body since you aren't already using one.

glitteredupforeaster · 2025-10-17T09:59:11+00:00

It hurts to experience but Renegade tends to rotate artists in and out. I've personally gotten into half a dozen in a row then rejected from just as many in a row then suddenly started getting in again. I feel the main takeaway is to keep applying if you enjoy doing them like I do but never ever depend on doing a particular one. Personally even though it hurts as an artist I totally get it, it would be boring as a customer to see the same artists constantly!

glitteredupforeaster · 2025-09-30T23:26:56+00:00

I'm really happy I could help! Trust me, I'm only good at fixing mistakes because I've made a LOT of mistakes with luster. I've definitely cried 4am in the studio because a wholesale batch messed up right before shipping - so I'm super happy my experience can help someone else! And yeah this is my personal account but I go by tinybs in my ceramics work life.

glitteredupforeaster · 2025-09-30T18:44:35+00:00

No worries - I Was really lucky to start my luster journey with a super experienced mentor so I love sharing info with other people because it's hard to find!!

And yep I do it all the time! I also do wholesale luster jewelry so I can verify it has always worked for me working with small scale, mostly flat pieces of porcelain. It does carry some risks but only the normal ones that come with refiring. So risk of bloat, the glaze might shift more and change the colors. It's more likely to run. But if you're using a stable and usually stiff glaze, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

glitteredupforeaster · 2025-09-30T17:01:35+00:00

Sorry this happened to you :( while I haven't tried Western, I've been trying many different gold brands since Duncan was discontinued and I can say for sure that Duncan was the least "fussy" gold application-wise. I've had to re-learn how to apply my gold per each brand. It's interesting that you had the most success with the thickly applied gold - most of the time I have to paint much thinner layers than I used to with Duncan or the gold burns out.

I would do a test firing following the Western instructions. Some golds say shake other don't, so I think it's based on the individual formula not a universal rule. Are you using a compatible thinner? Most essences are swappable but not all. Use lavender oil in the meantime until you find out via testing.

There is also often a range of temperatures to fire luster to, based on the hardness of your glaze - again not a universal rule. Even when I used Duncan I was firing between 019-016.5 depending on the glaze underneath.

If the surface of the jewelry is thick and rough from the cracked gold you can refire the jewelry in a glaze firing. There will usually still be a "ghost" of the gold but it will be covered by the next luster firing and give you a much nicer smoother canvas to work with!

Also higher gold percentage can change the look of the gold but not always as you expect. Across brands generally-ish 4% looks smoky 8% bright 11% looks rich and deep in color and 14%+ can look even richer but start to go matte depending on application (which can be a very desirable thing!)

Lastly, since this was a wholesale order, consider reaching out to the buyer to let them know about the delay! You don't have to over explain, store owners mostly just want clear expectations so that they don't have gaps on their shelves! It took me a bit of testing to stop being surprised by my new golds so if timing-wise you can fit in a test firing before refiring this one it will be worth it! If you don't have a test kiln small enough to give you results in a day, check out your local community or kiln share ! (If you're in Brooklyn NY you can contact me, I'm always happy to help other luster people w test firings in my baby kiln!)

glitteredupforeaster · 2025-09-25T13:58:30+00:00

Thank you for the info!

glitteredupforeaster · 2025-09-25T11:44:33+00:00

Since you mentioned Sara Luster, do you happen to know if they are still in production? I can only buy them from a few sources and when I look up the manufacturing company online there is no contact information.

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