John Rodgers on mon 23 jun 03
My thanks to everyone who has responded to my original quesry about what
to do with this mix. Sorry I haven't gotten back to the list sooner in
response, but I had a local show to do and was really under the gun to
get some work out. All went well and the show was a success. I had some
really beautiful Floating Blue pots and they were well received. To
hoist my own petard a bit - they were described thusly by one patron - "
I like your pots the best. They are........."Elegant"!" Nice
complement. Never thought about making elegant pots. Just pots.
As for the clay/ash mix. The clay is Laguna clay WC506 I believe.
Anyway, a cone 6 clay, that fires light tan with black specks -
manganese I'm sure. The ash I used was 100 percent oak - mostly white
oak. No coal, newsprint or other contaminants. The ash was not washed,
and the two components were dry mixed then water added. Next it was
beaten severely into a good slurry. I added enough water so I could dip
bisque into it, but i don't like the results..... dry matt brown, scaly,
speckled. I started this as a project based on a suggestion of a potter
I met in Montgomery, Alabama at a show that I was visiting. I liked a
couple of his pots that had his ash glazes, and he said the
50-50/clay/ash mix was where to start, then add more ash or less ash as
needed to get the results I wanted. This was long before I really got
into making my own glazes. I later found the process not so simple. And
now, as my knowledge has advanced, I would like to do it right with this
bucket of material. Thus the questions to the List, "What and how to do
with it".
All the input is appreciated, to be sure.
Thanks,
John Rodgers
Birmingham, AL
Robert Van Rens on tue 24 jun 03
-----Original Message-----
From: Clayart [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG] On Behalf Of John
Rodgers
>As for the clay/ash mix. The clay is Laguna clay WC506 I believe.
>Anyway, a cone 6 clay, that fires light tan with black specks -
>manganese I'm sure. The ash I used was 100 percent oak - mostly white
>oak. No coal, newsprint or other contaminants.... I started this as a
>project based on a suggestion of a potter
>I met in Montgomery, Alabama at a show that I was visiting. I liked a
>couple of his pots that had his ash glazes, and he said the
>50-50/clay/ash mix was where to start, then add more ash or less ash as
>needed to get the results I wanted. ...John Rodgers
John,
It sounds like a misunderstanding; by "clay", he may have meant "Slip"
or "Surface Clay", like Redart, Blackbird, Albany, etc. All of which I
have experimented with at Cone 6 as a 50-50 ash glaze, and gotten some
interesting results. I'm not sure what a prepared Cone 6 clay wold do
in the mix. Hmm. Have to try it with...but I digress. Redart and oak
ash at 50/50 makes a nice glaze; black where it's thick, mahogany where
it's not, and a nice, stony texture. It also leaches iron like all hell
and I'd never use it for a food-contact surface, but with a stable liner
glaze I've had excellent results. Of course, the stony, matte texture
may be what you are describing as "scaly", and not what you are looking
for. Just my 2 cents.
Rob Van Rens
Frederick Clay Art Center
Frederick, MD
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