Oops
2 weeks ago, I included a photo of my ceramic UFO from last summer that I had dipped in a celadon glaze. I searched high and low for that piece on the glaze shelf at the Art Student’s League last week and couldn’t find it. That’s because I didn’t recognize it! I had glazed the interior with a white glaze, then antiqued the exterior with a black underglaze and wiped away most of it so that the black would catch in the edges of the design. After this process, I then dipped it in a celadon glaze which is a beautiful aqua color when fired in an electric kiln to cone 6 (or 2291° F).
That is the piece that I was looking for; instead, I found the pot that you see above with barely a hint of celadon. I asked my instructor what the heck had happened, because I know for darn sure that I had dipped it in celadon and have the pictures to prove it. Persnickity ceramics! She thinks that it is because I didn’t allow enough drying time between glaze applications and for some odd reason, there was too much water in the piece. Lest you think I’m frustrated, I’m not…just gaining a better apprectiation for the medium. Here’s my new mantra: I will not rush my ceramic work, for when I do I’m bound to make silly mistakes! Here me now and remind me later, okay?
You may remember from my last glaze test tiles, the color wasn’t what I expected, so I redid the test and tweaked the amount of cobalt in the recipe. Guess what? No significant change! So, I am on round 3 of glaze testing. I eliminated the cobalt all together and, fingers crossed it will turn out blue/green. I should know next Wednesday.
In other news, I found out that the piece that I donated to the Art Student’s League sold during their Mini March Madness auction on March 3–here’s the exciting news–it sold for more than my estimated value and to someone I don’t know!
