Sunday, July 14, 2013

One Great Glaze

I never imagined when I first mixed this glaze that it would become the most versatile and best loved glaze in my palette.  Who would have guessed that simply mixing ash (from our cedar boughs) with clay would result in such a beautiful and varied glaze.  In the front where it sits in the blasting heat from the firebox it tends to be a rich, red-brown with the greeny-yellow rivulets - more red at the bottom of the stack and more greeny-yellow when placed at the top.  At the top of the 2nd stack this glaze becomes transparent and glossy and in this last firing, seeming to trap carbon!  The further from the firebox and at a regular cone 10 temperatures this chameleon glaze becomes a satin matte yellow - brighter yellow on whitish clay - that is just beautiful to the touch.  Did I say I loved this glaze?!

In the next firing I'll test the glaze with woodstove ash to see if the results are the same because there is only enough cedar ash left for 2 or 3 more batches.  

The glaze recipe is Warren MacKenzie's Yellowish Ash Glaze from his biography - Warren MacKenzie - An American Potter, by David Lewis.   Truly a great glaze!

From the top of the front stack

From the bottom of the front stack

From the 2nd stack from the front

From the bottom of the back stack

From the top of the back stack

From the bottom of the back stack with extra ash from the kiln

From different spots in the 3rd stack from the front

No comments:

Post a Comment