Low Fire Friday: Bonus Edition - Reader Results with Crawl

I recently received an exciting email from a reader who has been working with the Low Fire Crawl glaze I featured in January's Low Fire Friday segment.

Rand O'Brien from New Hampshire writes:

"I have been using your Magnesium crawl in raku with wonderful results. The spaces between the beads seal against carboning and the beads "stick" very well. Your dark Turquoise develops a beautiful luster in reduction."

How exciting! It wouldn't have occurred to me to try this same glaze with a different firing method, but Rand is getting beautiful results! Kudos to you!

Here's a re-posting of the Low Fire Crawl recipe Rand is referring too:

Crawl Glaze - Cone 04

Gerstley Borate            46.5
Magnesuim Carbonate 31.0
EPK                            18.6
Borax                            3.9
______________________
                                  100.0
+ Zircopax                     5.5

For color add...

Beige/pale yellow: + red iron oxide 1%

Dark turquoise/jade: + copper carbonate 5%

Light turquoise/jade: + copper carbonate 1%
To see glaze test tiles of this recipe fired to cone 04 check out the original LFF post. 

Rand, Thank you so much for sharing your results! That luster halo with the turquoise is amazing!

If anyone else has tried any of the Low Fire Friday glazes and would like to share how they've worked for you, email me at info@MeaganChaney.com and I'll be happy to put together a Bonus Edition featuring your work.

Cheers!
Meagan

Low Fire Friday - Recycled Raku (Guest Artist John Britt)

This month's Guest Artist is none other than the Glaze Guru John Britt. 

I took John's Basic Glaze Chemistry and Raw Materials workshop a few years ago, and let me tell you, it was AMAZING! This man is a walking glaze encyclopedia! I didn't think it was possible to learn so much information in such a short amount of time. Before I took John's class, I could follow a glaze recipe (ie measure and mix the listed ingredients) but if something went wrong, or I wanted to change something, I had NO IDEA how to proceed. It was like baking without knowing what flour, sugar and baking soda do. But after John's class, I had a much, much clearer understanding of what was happening and a great foundation for building my glaze palette.

Just a few of the Cone 04 glaze tests from John's Basic Glaze Chemistry Class

John has been a potter and teacher for over 26 years. He lives in mountains of western North Carolina although he grew up in Dayton, Ohio. John is primarily a self-taught potter who has worked and taught at universities, colleges and craft centers across the country, including the Penland School of Crafts where he served as the Clay Coordinator and then, as the Studio’s Manager.

He is the author of the “The Complete Guide to High-Fire Glaze; Glazing & Firing at Cone 10” which was published by Lark Books in 2004, was the juror for the book; “500 Bowls”, Technical Editor for “The Art and Craft of Ceramics”, and has written numerous articles for ceramics publications including: Ceramics Monthly, Ceramic Review, Studio Potter, Clay Times, New Ceramics, Ceramic Technical and The Log Book.

He is currently a studio potter in Bakersville, North Carolina and teaches glaze chemistry, throwing, glazing and firing workshops.

Here is the glaze (and fun story) that John is sharing with us today...

Recycled Raku

 


This is one of my favorite chairs. I formed it with the wire cut method, where you take a block of clay
and cut out the chair shape. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvfyD5xJobI)

Then I bisque fired the chair to cone 05. Then I rakued it with the glaze Raku Turquoise:

Raku Turquoise (From Chappell’s Book)

42.5 Frit P-25
27.4 Frit 3134
14.0 Silica
9.8 Lithium carbonate
6.3 EPK

4.5 Copper Carbonate
2.0 Bentonite

Then what happened is that the front legs broke off as I was putting it in the Raku cans to smoke it. So after about a half of an hour I open the cans and the legs were kind of stuck together and messed up a bit. But rather than throw entire chair away I separated and reglazed the legs but refired them in an electric kiln to cone 05. This made the legs a copper blue while the main chair was more turquoise and copper.

I then glued them back on and this became my favorite chair because it had the interplay of the
different glazes within the same piece.

Field Trip - The Archie Bray Foundation

Tuesday afternoon I went to The Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, MT - a 2 hour drive from Missoula. I've known about The Bray (its resident artists, clay supply business, and support of for all things ceramic) for years, and was excited to get a chance to check it out.

Archie Bray Resident Artist Exhibition and 2010 Bray Benefit Auction

View outside the Warehouse Gallery

Met up with current resident artist Courtney Murphy who gave me a tour of the short-term and long-term resident studios. Courtney and I met briefly in Asheville, NC a few years ago through mutual friend and ceramic artist Cassie Ryalls. The ceramics community is amazing! If the rule of 6-degrees of separation is true normally, within ceramics I think it's more like only 3!

Long-term Resident Studios

It was also great to meet some of the other artists (Kelly Garrett Rathbone, Steven Roberts, Kensuke Yamada, Kevin Snipes, Gwendolyn, Yoppolo, Del Harrow, and Johnathan Read) and see their work in the Resident Artist Exhibition in the Warehouse Gallery. I was blown away by the quality and variety of the work!

Some of Courtney's work from the Resident Artist Exhibition.

It was a quick visit, but I'm looking forward to heading back there next Saturday, July 24 for The Bray Bash - thier annual auction and fundraiser.

From The Bray's Website:
"The Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts is a public, nonprofit, educational institution founded in 1951 by brickmaker Archie Bray, who intended it to be 'a place to make available for all who are seriously and sincerely interested in any of the branches of the ceramic arts, a fine place to work.' Its primary mission is to provide an environment that stimulates creative work in ceramics. "

View back toward the resident studios and kiln yard

If you ever get a chance to go, I highly recommend it! (And I was only there for a short visit!) In addition to offering ceramic workshops and classes, The Bray offers ten 3-4 month short-term summer artist residencies and ten 1-2 year long-term residencies.

Cheers!

Meagan