Gene and Dolita Dohrman on mon 29 sep 03
Because of the remoteness of the island where I used to live, we did not =
have access to glaze chemicals and relied totally on commercial, =
premixed glazes. (They never did figure out it would be cheaper to =
bring in dry chemicals) For 8 years that is all I was able to use. Now =
that I will have my own studio and have access to the chemicals, I am =
going to try my hand at my own glazes. I pay attention to everything =
Ababi posts and have ordered RR and John's book. However, I know there =
are a lot of potters out there who are either just starting out, don't =
have the access to the chemicals, or have very little time to spend in =
the studio. This is my small way of paying back Clayart for all the =
valuable information I have received. =20
Those of us who were looking for more depth in the final result rarely =
used just one glaze - we layered them. Leslie Ceramics has a line of =
glazes with the name "Koke" (Koke White, Koke Blue, Koke Green, etc.) in =
front. We especially liked these layered with other glazes. Another =
glaze by Leslie Ceramics is called Spanish Brown - wonderful - really =
looks different on the inside as opposed to the outside. We used =
Spanish Brown under a number of other glazes - mostly by Laguna. Some =
Moroccan Sand Laguna glazes that were nice and reliable are:=20
Robin's Egg Blue (really a deep aqua-lot of green), beautiful on a dark =
red clay. =20
Bamboo Ash Matte (golden matte with some shiny spots) looks good under =
some glazes and can be used alone. =20
Golden Green is high gloss, semi-transparent and I used it over carved =
pieces that had first been glazed with gloss black and wiped off. Very =
reliable. =20
Oasis Blue with Robin's Egg Blue makes a great combination - very runny =
- be careful. =20
Most of the time I used Calico Clay by Laguna - often shows speckles =
through the glaze on the final firing. When I used Calico Clay, I liked =
to leave half the outside unglazed so I didn't have to worry about runny =
glaze. Really liked the contrast between the glazed and unglazed =
portions. =20
Ebony - it is flat black. I have used it on greenware and carved =
through it. Dusty areas can be re-glazed without worry. It goes on =
very thin. It is more like a stain than a glaze. Works great when used =
in combination with a high gloss runny glaze. Glaze the bottom half =
with the Ebony and top half with whatever. =20
One of the most awesome effects with a commercial glaze I have had is =
when I used Koke Green over a dark brown clay (Vandyke) that fired =
almost black. When it worked it looked like a lagoon at midnight. =
Amazing. Problem was, we had a high loss rate as the clay would crack =
into pieces more often than not. We discovered that it was a low fire =
clay-we were firing it too high. I would love to find an equivalent ^6 =
clay. It was wonderful to throw.=20
Colonial white is a good plain semi-gloss - watch for crawling - be sure =
your piece is clean.
Gloss Black - excellent, even gloss.
Dark Green - Make sure you don't put it on too thin. Beautiful true =
dark green. Have sponged Textured Cobalt over it at times.
Laguna has a line of glazes that begin with the word "Textured". They =
can be tricky but beautiful. Lots of depth and texture.
Antique Blue can be beautiful - sometimes it looks like copper after it =
gets that green tint to it. However, when it is fired too high it gets =
spotty and glossy. When it works, it is awesome, especially on carved =
pieces. It is more green than blue.
Chun Red - many people liked this glaze - I did not - reminded me of an =
infected wound
Cappuccino - very runny - but does look just like its name. =20
These are just some of the glazes we used. We were fortunate to have =
access to a fairly large variety.
I hope this helps. =20
Dolita in Kentucky
dohrman@insightbb.com
Dolita Dohrman
| |
|
