Thursday, April 14, 2011

Glaze Runs Up Hill


Every time I fire a load I learn something. I dabbed a contrasting glaze below the holes on two of these bowls intending it to drip down the outside and inside. One of the holes on the bowl on the left was plugged up with glaze. I guess glaze runs up hill. I never would have suspected that. I surmise when the glaze is in it's molten state, it must flow in a capillary action, defying gravity. I'll be using these bowls in my pine needle class next week, can't wait for that, so come back late next week to hear about that.


Wish the rim on this bowl was a dark color glaze, but it's growing on me.


Still experimenting with glass, this one is smooth in the bottom so I am getting there.


Moon tiles are almost 3/4 inch thick before firing, one (not shown) cracked, but these three didn't, although the black one has a tiny crack in the top in the middle, almost there on these thicker tiles.



These tiles are 1/2 inch thick before firing, they fared just fine and have a matt glaze on them. I thinned the glaze out more and there is no clouding now. The thick tiles will go in shadow boxes I am making. More about those later.


Wall pocket looks shiny, but I took some photos in garage so the fluorescent lights affected surface sheen.


Darn, there's a small hair line crack in the rim of the this big bowl. I notice lavender mason stain burns out under this matt glaze.


Black clay pendants with mishima white clay, ones on left have a matt glaze which obscures the black color, ones on right have no glaze which I like. Also I fired these to a soft cone 6 and they made it. What type of bails would you recommend for pendants without holes? Any suggestions?


Out of the three black tiles I attached large sprigs to, two cracked, the one with the poppy didn't crack. If the surface of the attached sprig was large the two didn't shrink at the same rate and it caused a stress on the clay. With the pink flower I only attached it with a small plug in the black clay and that was OK. The three butterfly tiles I used black clay sprigs and all three made it fine.


This is a test tile with stains and some native Florida clay with a matt glaze over the top. The matt glaze turned the native clay a nice gray color. I like it; I can use this surface and color on something in the future.


Last but not least, here's a sneak peak of a glaze test for the sculpture series I'm working on, more about that later. Please check out the post below, there's a giveaway going on. Loading up another bisque today, so stay tuned for more results.

10 comments:

  1. Hi everyone, please be sure to check the post below for a five giveaways, there's still time to enter.

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  2. Ohh Love the bowl and the tiles Linda, very prerty. I'm finding out I am a lover of colorful pieces.... brighten my day. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. some good results there- I wonder if the bottom glazed pulled the top glaze along to fill the hole...

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  4. My fav is the top one... Where/When did I miss about the pine needle class. Now I'll have to go back and read so I'm up to snuff. dang...

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  5. Lookin' good. Seems like something always cracks doesn't it. They say this isn't rocket surgery but I'm not so sure.

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  6. I do like the gold one but the piece with the little bird is really cute.

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  7. Hi Yolanda, thanks, I've been thinking the same thing lately, wanting the soft colors of the ocean or the bright colors of flowers, they give a happy feeling.

    Hi Meredith, thanks, yes that's just what I was thinking, because the glaze that is in the hole is the lighter glaze which I dabbed well below the hole.

    Hi Turquoisemoon, thanks, glad you like them. I mentioned the pine needle way back and finally got around to making and glazing the pinchpots with holes to take there. I didn't say much about it, so just wait till next week and I'll talk more about it then.

    Hi Dennis, thanks, yes something always seems to crack, I am pushing the limits so I expect a few throwaways.

    Hi Patti, thanks so much.

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  8. Wow, your creativity seems to have no bounds! These are all beautiful, but I just love the glass bowl and the moon tiles!

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  9. Hi Marguerite, thanks so much, I am working on some more of those glass pieces and tiles so stay tuned.

    Hi Sharon, thanks so much.

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I love suggestions, questions, critiques, thanks for your comment