Glazes

Latte glaze

My favourite all round glaze as it gives a real character to a glazed pot. With a self explantory name, it works best with Lavafleck clay which is bought through Bath Potters and produced by Potclays of Stoke. The rich iron content of the clay reacts brilliantly with the 5% tin oxide and depending on the temparture fired up to, it can emaerge from the kiln either a snowy white with heavy flecking at 1245 degrees or a more creamy colour with hint of brown when fired to 1260 degrees with a longer soak.

With a white stoneware clay which has a much reduced iron content the flecking is minimal and comes out a close fitting white/cream.

Recipe

Potash Feldspar 28
Whiting 5
Dolomite 30
Ball Clay 27
Flint 10
Tin Oxide 5%

Fern

Fern is another glaze that comes into it’s own when used with Lavafleck. Prone to crawl if applied too thickly it has a pleasing reaction to the charactistics of Lavafleck and introduces a nice rustic feel to pottery. Best fired at 1245 degrees with a 15 min soak.

Recipe

Nepheline syenite 35
Dolomite 10
Whiting 5
Ball Clay 10
Flint 35
Tin 3%
Chromium oxide 1.5%

Duck Egg

Duck Egg is particularly hard to reproduce its colour qualities and usually a lot of testing happens till I can get it right. A semi matt base glaze with Iron Oxide Yellow Ochre and Rutile, it is a nice glaze to work with and fits well to the pot with little history of crawling.

Recipe

Potash Feldspar 40
Whiting 20
China Clay 25
Flint 15
Iron Oxide Yellow Ochre 5%
Rutile 4%

Heritage

Heritage is glaze that has a lot of promise although perhaps I feel I haven’t yet brought out the best of it yet. It comes out as satin in character and has a washy feel to it when used with a white stoneware clay. What I like about it is that it becomes very rustic looking when used with Lavafleck clay. A glaze I intend persisting with for the best has yet to come. A few more experiments will see it grow in statue within the pottery.

Recipe

Cornish stone 48
Whiting 30
Ball Clay 10
China clay 12
Red iron oxide 6%

Merging mist

My first glaze combination I put together that produces endless shades of colours when the glazes are layered on top of each other.

There are three glazes involve in this design. First on the pot is the lilac which is as follows

Potash Feldspar 28
Whiting 5
Dolomite 30
Ball Clay 27
Flint 10
Cobalt carbonate 2%

Not really a stand alone colour as on its own it can be all too much and very glarely. When tempered with the other two glazes it adds a classy quality to the pot especially when fired to 1245 degrees in the quickest time possible and a with short soak.
Second glaze on the pot is a stable grey made from

Potash Feldspar 40
Whiting 20
China Clay 25
Flint 15
Rutile 2%
Illmenite 2%

This when layered on top of the lilac brings out a stormy blue. Lastly we add the Duck Egg glaze (as described above) in small amounts. If the Duck Egg is applied first then will be substantial crawing so it is important that the glazes are applied in order.

All pottery produced at Hundred-aker-wood pottery is made from stoneware clays supplied by Bath Potters. The clays I use are a Potclays white stoneware with 30% sand, a professional flecked stoneware produced by Scarva Earthstone, and a Potclays clay with heavy flecking called Lavafleck. Each clay produces its own identity and characteristics. With two firings, the first biscuit firing takes the temparuture to 1000degrees and the glaze firing is taken to 1245 degrees. This high firing ensures all the pottery is oven/dishwasher and microwave proof.

Due to the making process and high temperature firing, each pot is unique and the glaze colour and the pots’ dimensions may vary slightly This is part of my pottery’s character and only helps to enhance its ‘hand-made’ quality. Glazing is unlike mixing paint for it is possible for two firings with the same glaze to produce quite different results. The atmosphere within the kiln for each firing can make a big difference to the result of each firing. The effect is more pronounced in wood and gas firings but electric firings can also suffer or be enhanced from the variations.

All my bisuit firings are done in a Cromartie top loading kiln a temperature of 1000 degrees whilst all glaze firings take place in my larger German built Rohde top loading studio kiln. Rohde kilns are highly recommended by myself, especially the customer service of the manufacturers.

There are separate pages about some of my techniques and materials :-

The making techniques. Follow this link

Hand building methods. Follow this link