Test glazes on shot glasses.

 New shapes. New names and many admirers.

Ball

Fling

Scratch

Brown glaze on scratch

Iron Scratch

Ancient Jasper Scratch

Orange Scratch

Chun Scratch

Shino Platter

Gloss black no scratch

New Shapes!

The last few months have been tedious with all the glaze tests. I had to get back to forming and when I did, there was an explosion of new shapes and forms! Here's a few finished and in the works. Note the different clay colors. I think I'm settling in on Aardvark's "Cafe Cinco" but I still like the light color bodies for glazing. See the round form below? You think it has some potential?

I especially like putting a texture like scratching and finger grooves on the form to help showcase the glaze.

 

While relearning what I forgot to remember I found some new stuff with the old

A great form can be easily ruined with the wrong finish. You have to listen to the form and not force the wrong glaze or a bad application onto the pot. Seems silly to listen to a pot but I find it necessary and true. A pot can be a utilitarian form or a 3 dimensional canvas both of which, if you don't study and evaluate the pot, it's form and essence, if you don't listen as the potter, you can erase the pot's voice with a bad finish.

So I practice, testing glazes and have mixing combinations of old oxides, fluxes, and other glaze components to formulate my own. Perhaps the glaze and the pot will choose themselves? If I could only listen that well.

Glaze triangles combine 3 products in different ratios to see what they create.
I look at each glaze dot with a magnifying glass to catch any imperfections,
then mark my choices to expand further.

Mixing measured dry portions in specific amounts then
applying them to a new tile.