There
is a crazy rogue element in regards to testing, the bigger the test piece gets,
the more unstable it (sometimes) becomes. What I mean to say is that the
initial test of 50g comes out and lets me know if it is worth persuing. The
next test is 250g and is on a guinomi or yunomi style pot. 99% of the time,
everything is still on track at this point. Next comes the teabowl test and
here is where thing just seem to go south. I am still unsure why the intitial
tests work out fine only to be undone at the larger phase. Some do make it
through the teabowl phase as well, only to be undone when the pot gets even
bigger. I guess as I am working alot with ash glazes or glazes with ash in
them, that the more vertical, the more the glaze runs and is altered tremendously
as it pulls thin.
Fast
forward to last week, I am still working on this psuedo-Jun-Yao glaze and
trying to get it to stay on the pot and still have the characteristics that I
am after.Tweak, tinker, alter and fingers crossed, I try again after a series
of small tests and three days later, out come the results.Too little of this
and the glaze is too dry, too much of that and the glaze runs unchecked right
off the piece. Striking the right balance of adjustments, while maintaining the
qualities that I am after is all about continued testing and just not knowing
when to throw in the towel.
Illustrated
is a large mentori guinomi fresh out of the kiln. It maintains that lavender,
foamy quality with fine streaking where thick and it has wonderful breaking
qualities. Where the glaze has run thin around the lip and at the edges of the
facets, the glaze is an ashy clear that compliments the rest of the surface.
Next step, again, on to a teabowl or two and we can see if I have solved the
myriad of problems the glaze has already presented. I will let you know.
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