Avril Farley on mon 8 nov 04
Ah, but, most respected Mel, you may prefer not to use test tiles =
because
you have the luxury of a large kiln, workshop and selling space. I
completely agree there is more to glaze than just the colour. However, =
in
my field of crystalline glazes, the smallest iota of oxide up or down =
in a
single base glaze can make a big difference to the end result. I can =
make
50g batches of one or two new oxide combinations and put one or two new =
test
tiles in every firing ( this tells me if the color combo is pleasing), =
plus
a small pot based on an promising oxide combination from the previous =
firing
(this will tell me how viable/crazed/ pinholed etc. the glaze is on a =
larger
vertical surface) - the tiles, the pot , plus the written reference, are =
the
most successful way for me to keep an accurate record and provide
consistently repeatable results, and the most economical use of my =
limited
kiln space, particularly in view of the general cost of the glaze
ingredients - I pay an absolute fortune for FF3110 in UK, not to mention =
the
rare earth oxides.
I absolutely agree that a test kiln could not provide remotely similar
results to those from a full firing which is why all my tests go into =
the
full firing program in my ever faithful but small old Olympic toploader.
Just my point of view
Regards from Avril in the Forest UK
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