RUNNY PROSPECTS

I really like the period of time after I develop a new glaze to work with that fits my visual interests and the forms I am working with. It starts out slow, I test the glaze by itself and with other glazes from pod, to yunomi to teabowl and on to larger pieces. As I get feedback from the firings, I adjust the glaze and decide what works and what doesn’t and keep as many notes as possible together with digital images.

For the partridge feather glaze, since it is fairly refractory on its own, the best combination so far is over the temmoku glaze, though it is interesting over an oatmeal matt, a clear glaze and an amber glaze as well. I have been playing with varying thicknesses of the glaze and am finding that I can alter the length of the feathering depending on how thick the glaze is applied. Recently, I have tried applying the glaze fairly thin over wax resisted patterns and am finding that, that makes for an interesting surface as well.

The illustrated bowl was from my last firing a couple of weeks ago and shows the thinned version of the glaze and the pattern on a teabowl. I have been throwing towards another glaze firing and will hopefully bisque by the middle of next week. The pieces were thrown to try out more pieces in the temmoku and partridge feather combo along with some other glazes. There are several pieces thrown specifically as tests for these glazes and I am looking forward to the result. I always like this period of time, it almost makes you think the possibilities are nearly endless.