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ash glaze queston

updated sat 25 apr 98

 

Kate and Phil Smith on thu 23 apr 98

My first time working with ash glazes
Leach Soto ^6
50% Wood Ash
25% Yellow Ocher
25% Custer
Seems to require twice the water to get a cream type mix. Is this a
quality of ash glazes?

Craig Martell on fri 24 apr 98


>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>My first time working with ash glazes
>Leach Soto ^6
>50% Wood Ash
>25% Yellow Ocher
>25% Custer
>Seems to require twice the water to get a cream type mix. Is this a
>quality of ash glazes?


Hi:

Did you wash the ash, or is it unwashed? Unwashed woodash has incredible
amounts of soluble alkali that will turn your glaze into flubber real fast,
and will also burn the crap out of your hands if you don't wear gloves.
Then you add a lot of water to restore the glaze to good consistency for
application and when you apply the glaze the coat is too thin to glaze the
pot well.

If you are going to use unwashed ash because you want the benefit of all the
soluble alkali, mix the batch and use it up right away. Unwashed ash glazes
will not store well.

I've found that the best way to apply ash glazes is to spray them on the
pot. They are a bit difficult to dip and pour because they need to go on a
little thinner than a "normal" glaze. Brushing isn't too bad if you have
tons of leisure time.

If you're interested in pursuing ash glazes, I would reccommend a reading
Phil Rodgers book "Ash Glazes". It has a lot of very good info.

later, Craig Martell-Oregon