Glazes and Glazing Techniques: A Glaze Journey

To many potters glaze recipes are like manna from heaven, appearing from nowhere, or holy writ, once committed to paper never to be changed or questioned. Potters use recipes that are passed from one to another and do not understand why the same recipes do not work for everyone. In this book the mystery and involved chemistry are replaced with a practical, straightforward approach to glazes and their application. Chemical formulae are avoided as far as possible. There are many books which cover the chemistry of glazes in depth, with information on oxides and other materials, and do it well. This book is about a personal journey developing and discovering glazes. Author Daly shows how simple it can be to develop a glaze and a color. You need no previous experience - only a passion for exploration and discovery. If you are looking for glaze recipes you can turn to Chapter 6. It will be like viewing a friends travel video - seeing but not experiencing. If you are looking for a better understanding of glazes, color development and surface finishes, begin at Chapter 1. A glaze recipe from a book is only part of what creates the finished surface. You may now be searching for what you believe is an elusive recipe, but you already have the recipe; what you are really seeking is how to control the other factors that determine the final result - clay bodies, kilns, temperatures, kiln atmospheres and the way you apply your glaze material. This book is about a journey of discovery and understanding; so that the development of color and surface finishes becomes not mysterious at all. This book provides approaches and observation skills which will give an overall view of what happens to materials in glazes, how oxides give different colors with varying base glazes and how application methods can alter everything. The development of glazes and color should be fun.