Glaze Layering & a Quick Tip

Due to the vagaries of firing, I'm never sure what a piece will look like until I actually take it out of the kiln. In case that's not enough uncertainty for ya, we can make the result even less predictable by layering glazes! Each glaze has its own factors a variation, and they all interact with each other.

Does that sounds insane? Like, why would you do that? Because the fired results can be so complex and intriguing and beautiful! 

Take this piece:

The balloon is to keep the rim from warping while drying. That is the Quick Tip! It worked perfectly. 

I have since glazed and fired this mug, using thinly brushed layers of three different glazes. I brushed on the glazes because three dipped layers would be a lot of glaze, so would have the potential to flow off the pot & onto the kiln shelf. Brushed glaze also tends to be more unevenly applied than dipped glaze, which we usually think of as a disadvantage to that method, but in this case, it creates greater variation for a more visually active surface.

See links to the glaze recipes here!