Making glazes by hand
I keep notes on every firing, even the disappointing ones. For a long time I treated glazes as an afterthought. The glaze looked grey in the bucket and came out deep blue. Most of what I know about stoneware came from getting it wrong first.
A note on tools
Clay remembers every mistake you make with it. Most problems with bowls turn out to be problems with time. Little, repeatable steps beat big plans very nearly every time. I would rather do one thing with care than five things in a hurry. Every firing is a little experiment, and some of them fail.
Below are a few notes, roughly in the order I learned them.
The middle part
Looking back, the earthy approach was the right call. The thrown part is seldom the hard part; consistency is. I tested the functional version first. It did not last. It is not glamorous, but it holds up.
It is easy to overthink loading the kiln. It is harder to just start. I changed my mind about firing schedules twice while writing this. Test tiles are boring until one of them changes all of it.
You can get remarkably far with an electric kiln and some patience. The speckled part is seldom the hard part; consistency is. You can get remarkably far with a banding wheel and some patience. Most of what I know about mugs came from getting it wrong first.
Trade-offs
I keep a short list of things to try next; loading the kiln is near the top. The best advice I got was plainly to slow down. It is easy to overthink wedging clay. It is harder to just start.
A few details
None of this is new, and that is partly why it works. Most problems with ash glazes turn out to be problems with time. Somewhere between the studio and home, the idea finally made sense. Good bowls is largely a series of little, unglamorous decisions.
- Compare against last autumn
- Note the date and the weather
- Budget twice the time you expect
- Give loading the kiln a full spring
Good mugs is largely a series of little, unglamorous decisions.
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