Latest test tiles

The latest test tiles fresh from my kiln.

New color combinations April 2016.

Test tiles are a way for a potter to test glaze combinations to see how they look together. It is necessary to do so because of the chemical changes that happen during the glaze firings. Some glazes that you think would look good together will have chemicals that react with each other and produce fugly results. The only way to make sure that the glazes will look nice with one another is to actually use them, and test tiles allow you to do so without having to risk ruining an entire piece of pottery in the process. 

Cleaning out the old dead grazes

Is this were clown makeup comes from?

Yesterday, I was helping my wife clean out some buckets of old pottery glazes. (She was having a problem with one of the glazes, and she needs to start with a fresh batch of glaze to fix the problem.) And I amused myself by pretending this is where clown makeup comes from--trying to guess what the ingredient was. (For the record, my latest writing project involves some scary, creepy clowns--I see clown related stuff even when no clowns are involved.) True love is cleaning out the old glaze buckets. And on a bright note, my wife promises not to make any scary ceramic clowns...and maybe not even cool clowns either. (A lot of eye rolling has been done by my wife during the reading of this blog post--I think that she thinks that I am a little weird. Correction, she says that I am "a lot weird.")

Common sense of politicians.

Old dried out actor remains.

What sparkling vampires turn into?



Simply gross looking.

Alchemy of Glazes

Ceramic Jewelry Pieces Before Glazing

Jewelry Pieces In The Process of Getting Glazed

Jewelry Pieces After Bing Glazed and Fired



MDE: One of the things that I find interesting about the process of making ceramics and pottery is the alchemical changes that the glaze undergoes. There are many glazes that I would never be able to guess what color they will turn to upon being exposed to the high temperatures of the kiln if I haven't seen the label and test-fire pieces ahead of time. My wife has a better idea of what a piece will look like after firing, but even she is surprised by some of the pieces that come out of the kiln. It is one of the reasons that I think of pottery as a form of alchemy.