06/03/2026
Pulled some spoon rests out of the kiln yesterday, and had one in there that made me want to have a chat about ceramics, glazes, and how they work. So if you’re into learning some nerdy stuff - keep reading 😬
For the first spoon rest I was sent a pic of another artists work and asked if I could replicate the glaze. The person thought maybe it was two glazes to give the look. I immediately recognized it as one of the glazes I use a lot in layering - Amacos Blue Rutile. Here’s where things get fun 🙂
When using a glaze, it’s all about chemical reactions. You can’t necessarily mix two glazes, say a red and green, and get blue like you would with what we learned in grade school about how colors work. Chemicals are in the glazes that react differently, so laying glazes causes the chemicals to react and give a totally different color. This is why a lot of times I (and other ceramic artists) won’t commit to someone who is specific about wanting something extremely specific. It is very difficult to get the exact same thing every time. Some glazes are known to be stable, some are known “runners”. Some have recently had changes to formulas so used to be stable and now are runners (that’s fun to find out when doing pieces that need lettering 😅). There are a lot of factors, such as whether the clay is white, buff, speckled, or dark…how many layers, how full the kiln is around the piece, what cone (cone is what we refer to temperatures, most of my work is done at a hot cone 6), the cooling method (yep, even how fast or slow it cools matters!).
There are certain “looks” I have down, such as the faux leather look. I create my own glaze for that, but I do use a lot of commercial glazes as well. I easily have over 100 different glazes from about 6 different glaze lines, and I’m continually playing with how they look together. Some are winners, some are…not 🫣
For horse hair pottery, they all get a third firing where the piece is pulled out of the kiln at about 1200° and the hair is laid on at that time.
Anyway, I’m always happy to answer questions from customers about my processes! Don’t be surprised if I write a book though, I love talking about ceramics and what it takes to make the pretty pieces 🥰
