Nancy Udell on thu 19 oct 06
Hi Marianne,
Adding mine to the chorus of voices about too much water. I would be
cautious about adding more dry materials just because it's easy to
make a mistake and get the proportions wrong -- and you have big
batches already. It's very easy to wait for the glazes to settle and
then pour the extra water off the top.
Just another note on mixing glazes -- You may have done this, but if
not... Don't mix a big batch of the glaze until you have tested it
both on a test tile and on a real pot. 5 gallons is a lot of glaze
and you might find when you see the glaze on the pot that the color
or texture is not quite what you are looking for.
I ususally make abut 200 - 500 grams (dry weight) of a glaze the
first time. That gives me enough for a tile dip and (because I spray
a lot of my glazes) enough to glaze one pot if I like the test
tile. By the way, Ron and John's book (which is excellent if you
don't have it) suggests 180 ml of water for 100 dry gms of glaze as a
starting point. As others have said, every glaze is differnt, and
always better to start with less and add more. You'll get a feel for
it after a while.
Good luck on glazes -- I find it a constant challenge and also a
constant joy to open the kiln and see what surprises await me. My
old hair dresser in New York City used to say (very adamantly) "It's
all about the hair." If you have a great outfit but your hair is a
mess -- forget it. Well that's how I've come to feel about glazes --
a bad glaze or glaze application can ruin the best pot. Patience,
testing, and exploration. You will get there.
Have fun!@
Nancy Udell
Santa Fe, NM
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