Why bowls still matters
Little, repeatable steps beat big plans very nearly every time. Test tiles are boring until one of them changes all of it. Between wedging clay and testing glazes, the second one taught me more.
Odds and ends
Good ash glazes is largely a series of little, unglamorous decisions. You can get remarkably far with a glaze scale and some patience. The glaze looked grey in the bucket and came out deep blue.
Where it started
It is easy to overthink loading the kiln. It is harder to just start. The speckled part is seldom the hard part; consistency is. The specifics matter less than the practice of paying attention.
What changed
The best advice I got was plainly to slow down. Below are a few notes, roughly in the order I learned them. If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about tableware.
Somewhere between the studio and home, the idea finally made sense. It is easy to overthink testing glazes. It is harder to just start. Most problems with bowls turn out to be problems with time.
There is a version of this that is much more complicated. This is not that version.
The short version
I keep notes on every firing, even the disappointing ones. I tested the earthy version first. It did not last. I am still not sure I have it right, but it is closer. Good glazes is largely a series of little, unglamorous decisions. Every firing is a little experiment, and some of them fail.
I keep a short list of things to try next; loading the kiln is near the top. It is not glamorous, but it holds up. Nothing here requires a trimming tool, though it does make things easier. If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about mugs.
Most problems with ash glazes turn out to be problems with time. Looking back, the speckled approach was the right call. I keep a short list of things to try next; wedging clay is near the top.
glazesash glazes