The case of the hopping glaze
We did a firing in the gas kiln at the studio this past week. It was a real humdinger - lots of outstanding color was achieved, as you can see by these gorgeous tumblers above. This trio show the three main glaze combinations that I have been working with for the past three or four firings. They have been pretty consistent until this last firing when strange things happened and there were some casualties. I'm pretty bummed about it, especially since this work is a collaboration and I am the one responsible for the glazing and making sure they do NOT get stuck to the kiln shelves... dang.
This tumbler came out so freaking gorgeous that I was forced to keep it. I really didn't have a choice in the matter. I'm drinking my seltzer out of it right now. :)
I also had to keep this one.Again, I was helpless. It had to be done.
There were lots of little bowls in this batch. It's almost a shame to put anything in them when the inside is so lovely.
See those pretty purple dots? I like to call them "little bastards." This is a fairly new glaze that I have been testing for a while now and thus far it had been very, very reliable and consistent. It didn't move, it didn't drip, it didn't crawl - it seemed like a dream glaze, especially for my purposes. In this firing, however, the little bastards decided to pick up camp and relocate themselves toward the bottom of the pots causing some (thankfully not all) to become one with the kiln shelves. This pile shown above came out just fine but you can see how far the dots moved - I placed them at the rim of the bowls, right at the top, but they ended up half way down. The really strange thing is that they didn't run or drip, they didn't crawl and leave a bare spot on the pot - there is no indication that they were ever placed at the rim of the bowl in the first place. This is weird and has me totally perplexed. If any potters out there have any insights into The Case of the Hopping Glaze please enlighten me so that I can prevent it from happening again. :)
Comments
perhaps the pieces may have been place in the kiln's hot spot and the base glaze moved, if the LB's were of a drier glaze then they just rode the base down the pot, if the hot spot was not hot enough to flux the Lb's, this is just a rough guess without more info..
I just got my ring, and it's on my finger, totally comfy and perfect. I love it. oh so much. words cannot describe!! you are so awesome. I don't have to tell you that though. you know it. work it baby work it!
Was there a different glaze under the spots? Perhaps it melted first, before the purple spots had a chance to melt, causing the solid spots to slide over the underglaze?
When can we expect to see these in your shop? (*nudge*, *nudge*)
Cenya