Richard Mahaffey on sat 26 may 07
Mel,
You may call us stupid for having 16 glaze buckets ;-)
We have three main families of glazes based on a limestone clear, FC
Ball's stoney white (matt) , and Maria's white (somewhat waxier than
Stoney), we also have a copper red, two shinos and a couple of other
matt glazes that do some unique things. We have the following
decorating oxides and stains: Chinese Cobalt (per Leach), Cardew Green,
Cobalt carb (for the matt glazes), Red Iron, CIR (Gerstley, RIO,
rutile), a rutile stain, peacock blue green stain, and a black stain.
In the fall we do some Majolica for low fire exposure and of course we
have small buckets of raku glazes, perhaps 8 or 9.
We seldom get asked for more glazes. We have to sample boards one of
single glazes and one with overlaps, and a photo book of glazed and
decorated pieces with accompanying drawings that show which
stains/oxides were used to decorate the pieces. With the families of
glazes (for example clear, light and dark celadon, light blue and dark
blue) it is not too hard to keep things in line. our advanced students
have to be responsible for one glaze during the term.
Our philosophy is that students need to be exposed to more than 4 glazes
can provide if we are to provide a comprehensive education at the
college level. I know of Universities that only use premixed 4 ounce
containers of loew fire glazes and fire a 21 inch diameter electric kiln
every other Friday and call that an education in ceramics. I want our
students to get at least the braod exposure that I got in undergraduate
school if not more. It is hard with only two teachers and three
sections but we manage.
If I were teaching in High school I might have a different idea of what
my students need but at the College/University level this is my idea of
what their exposure should be. In a production studio 4 glazes is an
ideal number but I could never get to that few I had 6 when I was
potting full time.
Your milage may vary,
Rick
Richard Mahaffey on sun 27 may 07
Mel,
I don't want to be in the real world, that is why I am in the ivory
tower division (lower division at that). I agree that in 50 minute
periods or even double periods that things are much different.
Students always want the perfect glaze. I have a student that thinks we
should go back to the old copper red (5 or 20 gallon batch) because it
really works for her when she decorates with it over the Ohata Kaki.
we changed to the new one because it was more reliable (Wow, copper red
and reliable in the same sentence - now that does not make sense!).
Clay teaches students that life is not fair, there is always some other
aspect to master or at least get kind of good at, and even then the clay
or fire gods will jump up and bite you. I spend a lot of time talking
to students about glazes and how to think about them and then we talk
about why they do what they do. It also teaches them that there are
lots of approaches, our is just one of them, not the right or only one.
Rick
Paul Lewing on sun 27 may 07
On May 26, 2007, at 9:48 PM, Richard Mahaffey wrote:
Mel,
You may call us stupid for having 16 glaze buckets ;-)
In a production studio 4 glazes is an
ideal number but I could never get to that few I had 6 when I was
potting full time.
You could get by with 16? Such restraint! I pretty much always have
worked with 30 or 40 at a time. It's not unusual for me to use 35
glazes on one tile piece. I picked up this working method from Dave
Shaner, along with a lot of other career directions and working
attitudes. Using four glazes in a production studio may be a smart
way to work once you know what you want to make, but it's way too
boring for me.
Paul Lewing
www.paullewingtile.com
Richard Aerni on sun 27 may 07
I will agree with Paul and Rick here...I have about 30-40 glazes mixed and
ready for use on any given kiln load. I don't use them all the time, but
they are there in case I decide to go in a given direction. Over the years
I've developed a number of "looks" which require certain glazes used in
combination with each other. Plus, on most of my pieces, including my mugs,
I'll usually use 4-6 glazes, minimum. Spraying will get you going in that
direction...
Best,
Richard Aerni
Rochester, NY...just pulled out my best looking kiln in years (at least
that's how it seems to me), and am looking forward to showing the new pots
in Lockport, NY this next weekend. We'll see whether the public goes for
"starry night" temmoku, and other gloss brown and black glazes...
On Sun, 27 May 2007 14:10:01 -0700, Paul Lewing wrote:
>
>Mel,
>
>You could get by with 16? Such restraint! I pretty much always have
>worked with 30 or 40 at a time. It's not unusual for me to use 35
>glazes on one tile piece. I picked up this working method from Dave
>Shaner, along with a lot of other career directions and working
>attitudes. Using four glazes in a production studio may be a smart
>way to work once you know what you want to make, but it's way too
>boring for me.
>
Mike Gordon on mon 28 may 07
Maybe Mel can refresh my mind here, but as I recall his high school had
a pretty large layout. I seem to remember it as more than one square
room. I was so impressed at the time that he posted it that I copied it
and gave it to my principal, as he was cramming more and more classes
into my already small, crowded room. But to no avail, when I retired I
had six ( 5 is the norm ) ceramic classes, with a enough on the waiting
list to fill 3 more classes. I bring this up because if your class room
is one room, as mine was, then mixing glazes, dry chemicals, etc.
without proper ventilation is dangerous to kids and teachers alike. In
which case, commercial, bottled glazes is an acceptable alternative.
There are lots of bottled glazes available now that aren't necessarily
flashy. I bought lots of bottled glazes and sold them to the kids at a
flat fee, which was maybe a $1.00 more than I paid. I also bought a 5
gal. bucket of lead free clear from Leslie's Ceramics in Berkeley, Cal.
that they could layer with the bottled glaze. I also sold clay at a fee
that was less than what they could buy it in town for. A one 25lb. bag
price which in the San Francisco bay area is around $12.00 per bag. So
I generated money for my dept. which kept me in good shape for 27yrs. I
bought two Brent CXC's a year, every year with that money. No pug mill,
no ventilation room for mixing glazes, small lockers with two kids per
and the rest in cabinets, or storing clay under my desk. You do what
you have to do to get the job done, what works for you may not be what
the person in the next school does but so what?? Mike Gordon
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