On testing glazes and loading the kiln
I keep notes on every firing, even the disappointing ones. You can get remarkably far with a banding wheel and some patience.
A note on tools
Some of this will be self-evident; some of it took me years. I tested the thrown version first. It did not last. I changed my mind about slip decoration twice while writing this. Most problems with the wheel turn out to be problems with time.
Nothing here requires a glaze scale, though it does make things easier. Every firing is a little experiment, and some of them fail. I tested the wood-fired version first. It did not last. Good the wheel is largely a series of little, unglamorous decisions. A friend once described the wheel as quiet work, and the phrase stuck.
- Ask someone at the clay pit
- Stop before you are tired
- Stop before you are tired
- Compare against last summer
What changed
It is not glamorous, but it holds up. I would rather do one thing with care than five things in a hurry. A friend once described bowls as quiet work, and the phrase stuck.
I tested the matte version first. It did not last. The glaze looked grey in the bucket and came out deep blue. Test tiles are boring until one of them changes all of it. Looking back, the earthy approach was the right call.
- Leave room for speckled mistakes
- Note the date and the weather
- Compare against last summer
- Keep a trimming tool within reach
The middle part
Below are a few notes, roughly in the order I learned them. For a long time I treated test tiles as an afterthought. Little, repeatable steps beat big plans very nearly every time. If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about tableware. The best advice I got was plainly to slow down.
What I kept
I changed my mind about test tiles twice while writing this. I tested the earthy version first. It did not last. There is a version of this that is much more complicated. This is not that version. I keep a short list of things to try next; wedging clay is near the top.
Looking back, the matte approach was the right call. Looking back, the wood-fired approach was the right call. A friend once described stoneware as quiet work, and the phrase stuck. A friend once described ash glazes as quiet work, and the phrase stuck.
Most problems with tableware turn out to be problems with time. If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about bowls.
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