Deborah Woods on wed 12 jul 06
I think a potter sharing a recipe is a very generous thing to do. I am
not sure I yet have that generosity myself! To finally latch on to
something that is your own, that is different and say here you go everyone,
it is a very unselfish act. But that is not enough? I mean we all know
there are so many variables. Thick and thin, reduction, screen (what size
mesh?) these all mean different things to different people. And please save
me from the day when a glaze recipe is published with two pages of detailed
instructions to make it come out for you exactly the way it does for them.
Please save me from the day when our pots start to look . . . well . . . the
same. I think even John said somewhere in his book, take this glaze and
make it your own.
I would LOVE to fully understand glaze chemistry someday. I am slowly
working on it, but all of our minds do not work so easily that way. I
collect and test, test, test recipes myself. And feel nothing but
gratefulness that someone was so generous to share them with me even if it
is nothing but a list of ingredients. It is not everyones job who shares a
recipe to save someone the work of research and learning. Their hard work
should not be meant to spare you the work of your own.
That said, I am so grateful for all the hard work people do and do
share, including John and Ron in their book. I really believe in the
importance of firing down slowly now and it is because of what I learned in
that book. I really want to be sure that the glazes I use are safer now,
because of what I have learned from them. But we are not all scientists,
and some of us will never be, even as I am sure we do our best to understand
our craft.
Carol Heuston on fri 14 jul 06
Thank you everyone who took the time answer my post about being a new
potter and glazes. I did find a very good link about math and converting
recipes to actual useable glazes. It was never my intention for someone to
do all the work for me. I did purchase John's book on cone 10 glazing and
I did make up a waxy black glaze from frogpond pottery( I think). I have
new elements just in to bring my kiln up to snuff to fire my work. I don't
mind putting forth the effort, its just finding a good starting point. I
also do stained glass, glass fusing, beads and glass etching. I know that
there is a learning curve to everything in life worth learning. Art makes
your heart sing and gives your soul a reason to fly.
Carol in Houston
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