At my recent glazing workshop at the PJ Pottery Studio, we had a heady day of learning about glaze ingredients and what purpose they have in a glaze. The attendees then went through the process of making a glaze and adding colourants in increments to create a line blend. Their pieces and the glaze tests will be fired and examined, we can’t wait to see the results. Oh, and there was homemade rhubarb tarts.
Glazing is a huge topic in pottery, there are literally infinite variations to experiment with. Changing the percentage of one ingredient can alter the look and feel; turn a matt into a glossy glaze; alter the opacity or colour. Many old school potters, like me make their own glazes from scratch and make adjustments to find that elusive perfect glaze.
There is now a large selection of ready-made glazes and easy brush-on glazes that are being used by newcomers to pottery, some of whom have not had the opportunity of learning how to make their own glazes through the TAFE system or through higher learning. I was pleased to offer this workshop to enable emerging potters to develop this important skill.
