A blaze of glaze

Ah, my neck and back ache. I've spent the day hoping to get this same glaze effect a second time on the new stoneware clay. But I've thrown a little twist into it by introducing a new pattern, a detailed pattern that needs to be glazed differently.

There are lots of ways to apply glaze to pottery. You can dip it in a big bucket, spray it, air brush, paint it on. Recently I've been painting it on to pots (jewelry components too) because it's really the only way to get the detail right. But painting it on has been a real trial and error and royal pain in the backside development process for me. I make all my own glazes and they don't formulate naturally to the techniques I want to use. But at last I think I've found the right combination of ingredients to make most of my glazes flow like paint, sort of.

The new batik pattern I'm using is pretty detailed and requires a fair bit of attention to what I'm doing. Attention to detail is not always my strong suit. And this isn't really like painting. It's more like coaxing the glaze to go where I want it to go rather than an actual brush stroke. Oh, and I have to do it twice for each piece in each colour, so by the end of the day....well let's just say that my natural tendancy for colourful language is enhanced.

A few trays and dishes have been committed to trial by fire and I've got my fingers crossed. And there are a couple of new glazes in there. I'm having a bit of a problem thinking about the acorns in other than natural acorn colours. Really, can you envision a purple acorn?

I've got another glaze experiement going on for an 'ocean green' that has been described by others as 'putrid' brown. This of course intrigued me and away I go experimenting without even testing the original formula. My tweek may indeed be putrid as well. But I'll let you know tomorrow. I am always optimistic, ....until I open the kiln.

And I do not necessarily have fate on my side this week. Alice (miss wiggle bottom) and I collided in the studio last week and the kiln god went arse over appetite. Many pieces are there waiting to be reassembled. But for now, just his earless head is left to gaurd my work. I sure hope this isn't a bad bad omen.