A thrown glaze for tableware
If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about ash glazes. Between testing glazes and throwing on the wheel, the second one taught me more. Every firing is a little experiment, and some of them fail. Some of this will be self-evident; some of it took me years.
In practice
If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about firing schedules. I keep a short list of things to try next; loading the kiln is near the top. Somewhere between the kiln shed and home, the idea finally made sense. Below are a few notes, roughly in the order I learned them. Test tiles are boring until one of them changes all of it.
I would rather do one thing with care than five things in a hurry. Good glazes is largely a series of little, unglamorous decisions. I keep notes on every firing, even the disappointing ones. None of this is new, and that is partly why it works.
The short version
Most problems with tableware turn out to be problems with time. I changed my mind about test tiles twice while writing this. A friend once described bowls as quiet work, and the phrase stuck.
It is not glamorous, but it holds up. Nothing here requires a banding wheel, though it does make things easier. If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about the wheel. Between wedging clay and loading the kiln, the second one taught me more.
- Keep a banding wheel within reach
- Budget twice the time you expect
- Budget twice the time you expect
- Give testing glazes a full spring
Where it started
I am still not sure I have it right, but it is closer. Nothing here requires an electric kiln, though it does make things easier. You can get remarkably far with an electric kiln and some patience. Good bowls is largely a series of little, unglamorous decisions. The best advice I got was plainly to slow down.
I tested the speckled version first. It did not last. Between wedging clay and throwing on the wheel, the second one taught me more. I changed my mind about the wheel twice while writing this. There is a version of this that is much more complicated. This is not that version. If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about slip decoration.
The specifics matter less than the practice of paying attention. It is easy to overthink throwing on the wheel. It is harder to just start. Looking back, the speckled approach was the right call.
The wood-fired part is seldom the hard part; consistency is.
the wheelslip decorationfiring schedules