Unpredictable Effects of Glazes - Lessons Learned

I have been working in the studio on clay slip that was poured into molds, as well as clay that I threw on a pottery wheel. Sometimes the clay that is thrown has different characteristics that will ultimately decide how your final product will look. This week I had several objects that came out of the kiln. I used three different types and colors of glazes on each one.

The large mug is the result of clay slip that I poured into a ceramic mold, cleaned it up, bisque fired it, glazed it and then fired it again.

I tried to use a technique of pouring a second glaze color over the first color to get a dripping effect. I chose the wrong colors because the mug looks Halloween like to me. That was not the effect that I was going for at the time. First of all, I did not know that the blue color was a midnight blue.

We do not have fired samples of all of the glazes that we use so we are often taking a chance with the color. I like the midnight blue color but not with that bright yellow dripping down inside the cup. Eww! It now looks like a child's project.

The greenish blue small bowl also came out with an unexpected color. There were crystalls in the glaze that were supposed to enhance the color. The clay that was used in that bowl had a lot of grog in it which made the surface really rough.

I thought that the glaze would help to smooth it out, but it only worked a little bit. I don't like the final color on that bowl either.

I gave away a couple of my other final projects to a lady in my pottery class who admired it. It was just a solid black swirled ash tray that I was going to use to hold coins or rings. Since I still have the original mold, I told her that she could have it. She was very pleased and grateful.

I do like the shallow red bowl that I threw on the wheel. The glaze turned out to be a vibrant red and it also successfully covered the grog filled clay.

I need to start making some sample small pieces of glazed objects with the clay that I am working with so that I don't have any future surprises. I don't want to spend a lot of time working on something that I don't want to keep or give away in the end. This batch of objects proved to be a valuable lesson that I learned as a beginning potter.

Enjoy your day!