PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS

I am still struggling with making this NOA, nuka oatmeal glaze work consistently as well as determining exactly how to use it. It is proving to be extremely temperature sensitive and demanding its own place in the kiln or it comes out way too stiff and rather unattractive. It has been quite a while since I have tried to use a glaze that was this set on an exact temperature and am beginning to wonder about its overall efficacy and reproducible results. In general I have a list of properties that a glaze should have in order for them to go into any scale of production, they are as follows;

>First and foremost suits my interests and works well with my forms and other glazes and washes, in other words, it plays well with others

>Easy to make

>Materials are readily available (except my lepidolite Oribe)

>Cost effective

>Not overly finicky in the glaze application

>Good glaze to body fit

> Slight variations in firing temperature with similar results

>Consistently repeatable results>Little to no crawling or pinholing

>Preferably a 90% success rate in firings

Obviously my list of glaze criteria is nothing but common sense requirements but I know I have fiddled and struggled with glazes in the past and probably will so in the future that are just never going to pan out as reliable surfaces. By coming up with a list it is much easier to just say, enough is enough and stop wasting time, money and energy to fight a fight that can not be won and know when and where to pick your battles. The jury is just not out yet on my NOA glaze quite yet.


Illustrated is a stoneware bottle with the nuka oatmeal glaze over black slip accents, top and bottom and iron and black glaze accents around the piece.