Glaze Craziness

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Glazing is my least-favorite part of the ceramics process.  I know I’m not alone in this.  Classmates of mine are always griping about not knowing what glazes/glazing techniques to use and being disappointed with the end results.  Also, googling “Hate Glazing” reveals a bonanza of complaints.

Of course, every step prior to glazing has ‘failure’ possibilities.  But, as a piece survives the gauntlet, your attachment grows. With glazing being the final creative step, and fraught with problems, there’s a good chance that all that hard work will be for naught, destined to be smashed to pieces and tossed in the garbage.

Some recent glazing disappointments include this set of plates to which jade green was applied — came out murky blue:

 

Blue 6" Plates w/ Sgraffito

 

This set of plates was underglazed with black — came out dark silvery blue:

Silvery Dark Blue 6" Plates w/ Sgraffito

This casserole was intended to have stripes of my favorite glazes — but, the colors ran together:striped_container_detail

This urchin bowl & spoon had a wash of green copper carbonate under a coat of clear — came out ochre (more aptly termed baby-poop brown):

Ochre Urchin Compote Bowl

Nevertheless, despite the prospect of more unpleasant surprises, I look forward to opening the kiln after my next glaze firing just as a child looks forward to opening Christmas gifts!

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