Stephen C. Lathrop on tue 26 sep 00
mattes
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I had the pleasure to make and fire 140 glazes in a twenty four
hour period. This was done with a workshop group and we all
found at least 6 chuns in the sets and over 2 dozen Divine Satin Mattes.
This all took place in a workshop at the ClayWorks in PA with the
attendee's, Ian and Hosts, one being myself, who were following the
Ian Currie biaxial blending method for revealing glazes as
described in his new book. Whowee!
I am still floating two feet off the ground. Knowledge is such a great
thing.
If you have lots of difficulties in understanding how glaze materials
interact at the molecular level and don't really want to know and just
need to develop reliable methods to work with them that don't require
Chemistry then Ian Currie
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?s method is something you don't want to miss.
Since ClayArt is such a great forum for information exchange and I
have a tendency just to lurk and enjoy. If have been grateful for all t=
he
things others have shared for us. But this time I must and can contribu=
te.
I must offer this valuable resource to others for so many reasons, it m=
akes
and Ian makes things simple and visual with little or no chemistry. Ian=
and
his methods give such a major understanding to glaze and how things
work and to help you see what is going on in your glaze or any other.
So relaying our combined experience from the workshop is after all the
best way to help others reduce the frustration with there own glazing.
The chemistry or molecular level and Seger formula, are often so
cumbersome to understand and work with that for most folks they totally=
avoid anything with the word chemistry in it. I can't blame them. Yet t=
o
work with Seger to solve and understand glaze chemistry can take years
that perhaps many of us don't care to do delve into it. Well here is a =
way
to learn glazes with out chemistry. If you can just follow a recipe you=
can
do it too.
I was amazed how easy it is to take a recipe remove the clay and silica=
from the other stuff mostly fluxes and from this basic flux recipe weig=
h
up only 4 recipes related to the original that are calculated for you f=
rom
his web page. Then from these 4, blend by liquid measure a set of 35
sets and place all 35 on one large test tile in an order and fire. Then=
to
view the finished fired test tile and note the visual relationship of =
the
interaction of fluxes to Alumina and silica it makes all the sense in =
the
world to see how the materials work together. I can then locate that
position within the grid where my original glaze would have been and
see how changes in these changing materials around it causes changes
in the glaze. With this visual information I can see what any incremen=
tal
changes occurring in the recipe and the resulting effect on the glaze.
This then tells me if I desire a change or a change has occurred what I=
must do to return to the original.
Those who have not yet developed the real control and understanding
of flux material interrelationships with silica and Alumina will come a=
way
as I did with vision and understanding of how to glaze materials and
relationships work.
If all this was not enough it sure was a pleasure to enjoy his good hum=
or.
I can now say I have had a truly divine experience for two reasons. Ian=
was not only kind enough to share his glaze knowledge with us in the
workshop but, I learned how to make his Divine Nut Loaf Cake. A taste
morsel I shared with the workshop on Sunday. All this was more than a
resounding success.
I can only say I was sorry for one thing and it is too bad Ian can't re=
ad this
while he is traveling to workshops. And that is I must apologize to hi=
m for
the momentary brain shut down. I shut off my Sunbeam electric mixer
then pulled it out of the wet Divine Nut Loaf Cake mix. Then seeing all=
that batter still stuck to the blades going to waste I couldn't resist =
turning
it back on to clean the blades. Only the mixer was to high and out
of the bowl. It was an Oopsss, Oh No... I did discover a new way to
decorate my Kitchen walls, and Ian too, with an Art Deco splatter effec=
t.
Hee hee..
Ian?s easy; soft-spoken patient manner with such good humor made the wh=
ole
experience a one of a kind for a lifetime that can't be topped. I certa=
inly hope
others
can have that same opportunity. You will smile and it will change your =
for life.
Steve in Coopersburg PA USA.
=
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