Kristin Conrad on wed 17 apr 96
Just thought I'd share this experience for other self-taught potters
learning to mix glazes:
In the past year, I have been learning to mix my own glazes. Working at
cone 6 oxidation, like many others on this list, I started by printing out
a number of glazes in different colors that I wanted, and tried to pick
glazes with a somewhat similar list of chemicals to keep costs down. I
opened a number of glaze test firings in anticipation of the lovely
persimmon or matt blue-green color spoken of, only to find disappointingly
dull or exceedingly garish results. I had one or two glazes that I did like
though and finally realized (O.K. maybe I'm was a little slow!) that I
could use that base glaze (minus the colorants listed) and develop my own
palet of glazes by learning to add colorants and blends of different
colorants. I used James Chappell's, "The Complete Book of Clay and Glazes"
as a reference (he has nice tables of different colorants, combinations,
discussions of how colorants affect each other, etc). My latest set of
glaze tests was wonderful. In trying to use what I am learning about glaze
chemicals and colorants to obtain specific colors that I want, I am
learning quickly about glazing, and developing a nice palet of colors. Not
every color I try to get comes out as planned (although I like some of the
"misses"), but using books as a reference, I have a way of making
modifications. Also, my list of needed glaze chemicals is considerably
reduced, and therefore I can buy a larger quantity of what I am currently
using.
This experience probably sounds very self evident to experienced or
schooled potters, but I thought I might save some time, money and
frustration for others just venturing into mixing their own glazes, and
printing out lots of different glaze recipes in search of colors.
One note: The base glaze I am using is alkaline in nature (it came from a
turquios glaze), and therefore limits producing certain warm colors. I
will need to find at least one more base glaze to get certain colors. At
least, that is the way I currently understand it.
Kristin Conrad
Rollinsville, CO
| |
|
