Sunday, July 28, 2013

Test Tiles!

They're less blurry in real life.
Though I am sort of on a blog break for the summer, I couldn't wait to share my recent ^6 test results! This was a mixed firing - lots of tests, as well as several "real" pieces glazed in Julia Galloway's Water Blue, a glaze I can rely on not to suck.

It didn't suck, but it was a little too sweet and...bland?...for my taste. I may not have reduced heavily enough, or early enough, to get the deep, varied, mysterious blue-to-purple I had in mind.
The look I had in mind.
Nevertheless I think the recipients of these mugs and teabowls - my Kickstarter supporters - will enjoy them. It's definitely a pretty glaze.

I got lots of good information from the tests, and at least three keepers. See if you can pick the winners from these images:
^6 Amber Celadon test

^6 Brown's Blue tests

^6 Magic White tests

^6 Oribe tests

^6 Old yellow tests
The Amber Celadon test ran like a mad bastard - and let me tell you, mad bastards can run, even at ^6. None of the Magic White tests made me happy, but I got keepers of Brown's Blue - the tile on the left; Oribe - the bowl on the left; and Old Yellow - the tile on the far right.

This was the first test firing in my own kiln; the others occurred in Watershed's soda kiln. I was concerned about uneven temp, but that concern proved unfounded - there was probably a full cone difference between the hot and cold areas, but it was not enough that the glazes reacted badly, or not as far as I could tell.

3 comments:

smartcat said...

It's such a pretty blue....reminds me of my pool, but nicer and more varied. I think anyone would be happy drinking from any of these.

Mountain Heart said...

I like the blue Lori.

Lori Buff said...

I've found it's best to apply amber celedon really thin since it's so runny. It can be a beautiful liner glaze or make your pot stick to the wadding.