Labeling and New Stuff

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sometimes i get in a hurry. Or feel exhausted and think: ' i'll get around to this tomorrow '. Sometimes, with such an excellent mind, there's no doubt in it that i'll remember each and every detail forever!

When creating your own glazes from scratch, any one of these thinking processes is a losing proposition.

Have recently begun again to construct my own glazes. (With the help of Daniel Rhodes and his book: "Clay and Glazes for the Potter", Revised and Expanded by Robin Hopper). A book of inestimable value!

Now perhaps i should describe the process i use when constructing glazes. Because "waste" is the antithesis of everything i hold dear, making up large batches of a glaze that may or may not work goes directly against the grain of my nature. So generally a recipe is halved.

And too, rather than measure by weight, i measure by volume. Thus instead of measuring one gram of a chemical, i measure 1/8th of a teaspoon. (Just try measuring 45 parts by an 1/8th teaspoon at a time! Tedious. But it works.)

OK. So the stage is set. We've now measured out a whole recipe, an 1/8th of a teaspoon at a time for each part, added our colorants (chromium, cobalt, copper, tin oxide, etc.) and have applied to the bowl, plate, or whatever in the appropriate places.

But

There's a dab left over. Say it's a dab of 4 (1/8th's tsp) Titanium measured into 1 (1/2 tbsp) of the Rhodes' formula #18, which we already know will make a lovely yellow breaking orange.

You think i'm going to throw it away?!!! xx Not on your life. Even though it's a mere dab, i'm going to set it aside to use day-after-tomorrow when i glaze again. Should-a labeled it, though. But . . .

I was exhausted, in a hurry, and truly thought i'd remember which little container contained what. There were only 16 little containers . . . .

Which is all to say, that the plate above was spozed to be a sunrise melding through a misty fog into the horizon. But i grabbed the wrong, unmarked container and instead of a haze achieved stark blue horizon lines.

Bummer. Even so, it turned out rather pretty, don't you think?
The area that appears blue on the bottom of the plate is actually a celadon green as in the photos below.

Am tickled with this little gem. A sugar bowl. When held in the hand, it has a smooth, satiny feel and as per usual the colors are much more saturated than the photos indicate. Each of the teardrop shapes have a subtly different hue with the lavender breaking red and the yellow breaking orangey in different combinations.
Tried for a close-up to show the richness of the celadon below. While the photo doesn't do that, it does show the intricacies of the color combinations.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Am discovering that creating my own glazes ( and having good results!) is extremely soul satisfying! Oh sure, have used the Coyote glazes and am pleased with most of the ones used. However, there's a certain feeling of elation from creating one's own glazes that can't be matched by using the commercial types created by someone else!
Happy Glazing folks
Chae