Japanese pre-printed transfer tissue results

Here are results from a test of the Japanese pre-printed transfers.  The left piece was transferred onto a fully fired coupon; the surface was first prepared with gum arabic and dried.  The right piece was transferred onto a bisque fired (1925F, 25 min.) coupon; the surface was just brushed with water first.

The bisque fired piece took up the color remarkably well.  The poor lighting and focus of the photograph do not do the best job of rendering the subjective appearance of the right hand piece, though they do a good job of showing the flaws in the left hand transfer.

These pieces were fired to 2225F, held for 25 min.  They were then coated with a little clear glaze and fired at 1925F for 25 min. (alongside a bisque firing of some other pieces destined for later tests).

I subsequently did more transfers to a few bisque fired buttons and test coupons.  When I put these into a hot kiln (around 800F after a previous firing), I noticed that the entire surface of each piece rapidly turned brown.  This suggests that the tissue paper is uniformly coated with some sort of organic sizing material before it is inked.  The paper itself is entirely peeled off before firing, so the browning is from a soluble coating that has transferred alongside the underglaze image, not from the paper itself.

The material appears to be sophisticated in its refinement, though the transfer characteristics of various designs do not seem to be especially uniform.  I suspect that the material does not have an especially long shelf life, and that older material either gives irremediably poorer transfer performance, or perhaps needs more water and a longer stay before peeling.