WHAT THE FLUX!

GLAZING WITH CONE 10 REDUCTION GLAZES?

Check out this latest issue of What he Flux to learn about application techniques that can significantly impact your final result.

WHY DID MY COFFEE MUG COME OUT OF THE KILN AND LOOK SO DIFFERENT FROM WHAT I EXPECTED?

I hear this often as the Glaze Tech for The Potters’ Studio. As a long-time member and for the last few years, staff, I’ve experienced this myself many times.

Usually, cone 10 reduction glazes get classified into the following categories…

DINA GEWING

This issue of What the Flux! is a tribute to long-time Potters’ Studio Teaching Artist and glaze maven Dina Gewing, who retired earlier this year.  

You’ve probably been wondering lately why you haven’t heard the familiar and distinctive laugh permeating the studio that let you know Dina was on-site. For years now she’s been as much a fixture in the studio as the kilns themselves and as integral to the flow of creativity on the studio floor.

Dina brought her joyful energy to every aspect of her time in the Studio, whether she was preparing for or teaching one of her classes, or running one of the numerous lively and informative Clay Clubs she developed for Members and Students. Perhaps you were lucky enough to take one of her hand building classes, where she explored an incredible variety of construction and surface decoration techniques, from making decorative cake plates and butter dishes to creating underglaze transfers. Maybe you also followed her down the rabbit hole of glazing and witnessed the magic of the studio glazes coming to life as she guided students in making hundreds of test tiles. 

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE IS NO MORE GERSTLEY BORATE?

In this issue of What the Flux, we discuss Gerstley Borate which is one of the main ingredients in many of The Potters’ Studio’s glazes. The ceramics community is currently facing a dwindling supply of Gertsley Borate and we discuss how The Potters’ Studio is working to develop new recipes to achieve the right balance and crystallization to match the existing recipes. We have made more than 400 test tiles to recreate the recipes for these studio glazes.

LAYERING GLAZES

In this segment of What the Flux, we discuss layering glazes and the studio's new Layering Guide. Dina Gewing’s “Using the Potters’ Studio Glazes” class recently took on the challenge of creating test tiles of all 20 TPS glazes layered over each other.  The students in the Session 3 class, with the assistance of staff members Liza Allen and Bill Kaplan, created 400 test tiles and a Layering Guide that provides instructions on how to obtain the results represented by 400 test tiles.

EXPECTATIONS

In this segment of What the Flux, Bill, The Glaze Guy discusses “expectations.”  It was high time we talked about the elephant in the room, and that is how we all have such great expectations for the final product when it arrives on the glaze shelves, yet frequently fail to put in the work on the front end to ensure our expectations are realized each and every time.  Let’s be honest, many of us hope that minor construction defects will be obscured by the glaze and we “expect” the glaze will also highlight not only our construction expertise but also our design ingenuity.  Yes, we put a lot of pressure on glazes and the Kiln Gods and Goddesses to turn our craft into masterpieces; but how many of us really consistently and accurately do what is necessary to achieve our desired goals and objectives?

ALL ABOUT THE BLUES

This issue of What the Flux is All About the Blues. In October, The Potters’ Studio added many new glazes to the collection and two of those glazes were Sapphire Blue and Rusty Blue – two very different blues that interact beautifully with the range of clay bodies available at the Studio. If you have not yet tried them out please indulge in the blue journey and develop some interesting combinations for yourself. These two blues are different from combinations created by clear and teal or however, you were previously able to develop a blue from our old glazes. Combined with other glazes are all on their own these two blue glazes look lovely on dark and light clay bodies...

NEW STUDIO GLAZE WALL

In this issue of What the Flux we are pleased to highlight the knowledge of Bill Kaplan who joined The Potters’ Studio in the Spring as our new Glaze Tech and he hit the ground running. He has reformulated some glazes, yes that is why the Red is not as runny and he and the other staff members have been diligently analyzing the results of the Glaze Survey to develop a new approach to the Glaze Wall. The current 16 glazes have been TPS mainstays for the past eight to ten years with very little change and are often described as traditional glazes. During the summer, TPS sent members a Glaze Survey asking a variety of questions to assist TPS with the new direction for the Glaze Wall...