Making Glazes

摘要

For most potters, glazes will be applied to the pot as a thin coat before it goes into the kiln (as opposed to salt or some wood-firing in which the sodium vapours or wood ash settle on the pots in the kiln). The usual way is to mix the glaze ingredients with water to a consistency that may range from that of skimmed milk to double cream. A typical set of glaze-making equipment consists of: a jug, a sieve, two buckets, two supporting lathes and a brush. If the glaze is being prepared to a recipe then an extremely useful, almost vital, aid is a way of recording each ingredient. Any interruption can mean that the potter forgets where they are in the process, with the obvious danger that a material may either be left out or put in twice (image 1).