This entry discusses my glaze test results from week 15, which I’m in the process of writing up, but I couldn’t help myself as I was thinking of this as I was documenting the photos. I tested the following Magnesia Matt recipe and removed the Magnesia component, so to speak. The test ring pictured above is the result.

Magnesia Matt (without dolomite):
Potash Feldspar 18
Whiting 16
China Clay 33
Silica (Quartz) 22

This recipe is supposed to include Dolomite 12.

Here, it struck me that a most curious thing is happening. I always thought that the “mattness” in a magnesia matt was caused by the Magnesium Carbonate in Dolomite. Yet the glaze is matt without the dolomite! Looking at the base recipe without the dolomite, I would have expected a clear glaze, judging by the other tests I’ve done so far!

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Helen Morken, Mobius I and Mobius V, 2007

Mobius III, Helen’s lovely and clever work, inspired by the drawings of M.C. Escher, is pictured in the Review Gallery pages of the recently released November/December issue of Ceramic Review magazine. Helen is a 3rd year student in the Distance Part Time BA Ceramic Design course at the GSA.

Catherine Bell, Graduate in Residence at the GSA with work in progress.

Thanks to everyone who came to check out our studios at Wasps Glasgow Ceramics Studio during our open studios weekend earlier this month. It was so lovely to have you! If you would like a virtual tour, here’s some photos from my albums.

We’re having a Christmas sale on the weekend of the 8th and 9th of December, so here’s a second chance to visit us! Lots of other artists at Wasps will have their best art wares out for sale that day too. Click here to get the address and phone number for The Glasgow Ceramics Studio at Wasps.

Furthermore, quite a few of the Wasps studio holders and also ceramic artists from the Glasgow School of Art, including Wendy Kershaw and Rachel Fox, will be taking part in the Collins’ Christmas Market, at the Collins Gallery, Glasgow, from 30th November to 3rd December.

The Glasgow School of Art Ceramics Department will also be holding it’s own Christmas Sale, late November or early December. Dates and venue to be announced. Some of the proceeds from this sale are donated to support student educational activities in the Ceramics Workshop.

Three of our lovely and very talented GSA Ceramics Graduates in Residence - Cara Broadley, Lindsay Saunders and Catherine Bell are all exhibiting brand new work in the annual Graduate Exhibition “Fresh” at The White Gallery in Dundee. The show opens on Saturday 3rd November 2007.

Regarding the development of this blog, I’ve done quite a bit of work on my Links page, recently adding a new Research page which provides links to books, magazines and online resources I’m finding useful for my glazing as well as theoretical research. I’ll keep adding resources to this page as I use them. Also check out my glaze results in the week 13 photos.

And, last but not least, we still have a three phase kiln at the Glasgow Ceramics Studio that is FREE to a good home - but you need to pick it up.

A steep climb: stairs up to the Ceramics Department at the GSA.

As the days are getting shorter (less than 12 hours daylight now) and things at school are speeding up, the blog entries are getting further between. Seriously, the Scottish winter closing in is something else. The very long days you enjoy during the summer, suddenly start growing shorter at an alarming rate. It becomes harder to get out of bed as it’s still dark in the morning, and early evenings seem incredibly late - it gets dark at 7pm now. We will sink to an all time low of 3pm by the middle of winter. Sunshine becomes a rare and precious commodity and rain coats an everyday necessity.

Click here to see the results from my first glaze test firing in early October. Clear cone 9/10 oxidation glazes on porcelain. I’d like to extend a special thank you to everyone who contributed the glaze recipes I tested in this batch, including Wendy Kershaw and Janet DeBoos. For the benefit of anyone interested in carrying out their own tests, I’ve included the recipes used with the photos.

The main issues with my test results involve some clear bubbles trapped in the glazes, which my supervisor, Janet DeBoos, tells me are called ‘beading’ and could be remedied by either a thinner application, higher firing temp, longer soak or change of fluxes.

I’ve decided that I really like Glacier Porcelain and dislike P2  Porcelain - just because of its colour. The journey continues…

In the glaze room at the Glasgow School of Art Ceramics Department - wearing my fashion apron! Photo by Cara Broadley

Photos from weeks 11 and 12 are now all uploaded, sorted and documented. Please click here to view them. During those couple of weeks I started with some glaze testing.

It’s been a fascinating process, and something I haven’t done much of before, apart from our Glaze Chemistry classes with Tony Flynn at the CSA and some testing for my raku project a few years ago. So I was very excited to re-acquaint myself with the process and to learn about the effects of ceramic materials in the UK.

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