Mad Dog Shino

Now you'll recognize me at NCECA

One nice thing about working at Portland Pottery is I always get a handful of pots out of each kiln load. I don't fire all my demos - I'd be buried in a mountain of not-quite-polished pots - but every firing there are a few.

This one is a trick I love to show students. It's Malcolm Davis Shino, onto which I brushed liquid wax resist...and then didn't do anything else. Just glaze, then wax. No second layer of glaze, no water sprayed on, no sponging.

The mug, before firing

It's the only glaze I know that will do this. The wax prevents the soda ash from rising to the surface of the glaze, and then provides carbon for the glaze to trap as it burns off, creating the contrast between the waxed and unwaxed areas.

It's a highly changeable glaze, its results varying wildly from firing to firing, prompting my students to proclaim that the "M.D." on the bucket stands for Mad Dog. It was a good dog this time, though.

Perhaps because of the high percentage of Neph Sy in the recipe, MD Shino has performed well for me. with NO alteration, at ^6 also. Here's the recipe:

Malcolm Davis Shino
Soda Ash                     16.3
OM-4                           13
EPK                             17
F-4 Soda Feldspar         9.3
Neph Sy                       38.6
Red Art                          5.7

This version is best on white clay; for a version for brown clay, just out the red art one-for-one with EPK.