The Case for Matte Ash Glazes
· 3 min read
Clay remembers every mistake you make with it. The trick, if there is one, is to leave sufficient room for mistakes.
Before and after
This started as a quick note and gradually turned into something longer. The glaze looked grey in the bucket and came out deep blue. Mugs are harder than they look; handles most of all. The kiln opened warm, and the first bowl made it all worth it.
- Do less throwing on the wheel, more mixing glazes
- Give trimming a full autumn
- Do less trimming, more wedging clay
A few details
Functional pots should feel good in the hand before anything else. This is less a primer and more a record of what worked for me. For a long time I treated clay bodies as an afterthought. Most of what I know about ash glazes came from getting it wrong first. In June the light changes, and so does the work.
Most problems with mugs turn out to be problems with time. Test tiles are unexciting until one of them changes all of it. I altered my mind about handles twice while writing this. There is a version of this that is much more complicated. This is not that version.
Most problems with the wheel turn out to be problems with time. I keep notes on every firing, even the disappointing ones. I would rather do one thing with care than five things in a hurry.
- Leave room for handmade mistakes
- Keep a kick wheel within reach
- Ask someone at the studio
- Write down what you change
What I kept
A friend once described stoneware as quiet work, and the phrase stuck. Below are a few notes, roughly in the order I picked up them. Looking back, the earthy approach was the right call.
I am still not sure I have it right, but it is closer. I wrote most of this on a quiet Sunday morning. None of this is new, and that is partly why it works. The shift showed up gradually, then all at once. Between testing glazes and loading the kiln, the second one taught me more.
- Start with stoneware and nothing else
- Compare against last autumn
- Budget twice the time you expect
- Keep a banding wheel within reach
The process
Every firing is a small experiment, and some of them fail. The best advice I got was plainly to slow down. If something here is unclear, that is on me, not you.
It is easy to overthink wedging clay. It is harder to just start. In April the light changes, and so does the work. I keep a short list of things to try next; loading the kiln is near the top.
It is easy to overthink testing glazes. It is harder to just start.
Looking back, the matte approach was the right call. If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about handles.