Monday, March 6, 2017

MDCC

A short while back I wrote a blog post about "recycling" test glazes and making every attempt to see if I can get them to work as a stand alone glaze but also in combination with other glazes as a base glaze, over a glaze or in some other combination with existing or other test glazes. The Oribe test I showed used a manganese dioxide/ cobalt carbonate glaze (MDCC) over it and I also tried the same test glaze over my temmoku that I use. Illustrated is the results of the first test using this new combo where what resulted is a soft metallic surface that shows a wide array of visual textures which seem to almost mimic oilspot textures around the form. I suspect all the oxides interacted to create this surface and I would say trying these tests glazes over and over again in various ways and incarnations can occasionally pay off.  I am not 100% sure what to do with this surface at the moment but I will move on to the teabowl size phase next and see what results that will yield. proceeding at this pod, to teacup to teabowl pace may seem a bit cautious but in fact it saves money on making up test glazes that then need to be thrown out and at the very least there is a good maxim to embrace; "slow and steady wins the race".