Bill Edwards on sun 6 jan 02
Hi,
Its good to see the many interests in glazes and
especially some of the newer ^6 ox. glaze recipes.
I hope that the future allows for those who place
recipes out there to include as often as possible the
viability of the glaze if and when it is known.
The reason I ask this is two-fold. Many people who
look for glazes do not own the software or have the
back ground to decipher the information of a recipe
outside of the physical look from firing the material.
Also it soon becomes an issue weather or not the glaze
is food service functional or not and needs defined
for those new to the industry and glaze formulating.
Many of the drier or highly unique glazes will never
be close to what is considered durable. On occasion we
can alter that to make it safer but not always when it
comes to mimmicking a certain look or feel. Even if it
was safe it does not mean it will be durable in my
sense of thinking. Its all bound and determined by the
chemical make-up and the results left over upon
firing.
If a recipe is provided and any knowledge of the
chemistry upon firing has been tested by a lab or
analyzed through other methods it is always a welcome
sight to know about it.
For myself I have used many glazes in the past for
decorative articles knowing the glaze wouldn't pass a
lemon slice test but the glaze was satisfactory in
other ways based on my needs at the time. If placing a
glaze on food service, that became a whole new aproach
and had to be re-formulated in order to have control
over the potential for chemical loss upon use. Then we
are back to sometimes losing that unique look we had
ealier.
Many glazes can be modified for safety and use in food
service that will look and feel very close to an older
version and sometimes not so safe glaze. However one
can only stretch the remaining combination of
materials so far before you begin to get into a real
deep chemistry lesson that takes weeks or months to
learn, and then sometimes you have to just give up and
move on.
They are many advantages to discussing glazes with the
many guru's out there but keep in mind that many times
it is assumed that the glaze will be used somewhere as
a functional glaze. Generally it is well accepted
among glaze guru's to take a challenge in converting a
recipe as close as possible to a viable/stable glaze,
but keep in mind you will normally be the one who does
the tests and reports back the pro's and con's of the
challenge. Good record keeping and photo's are always
wonderful sourcing tools for future references. Also
it might be good to go back to the source and ask if
any changes or modifications have been made to a
certain glaze since many of us are in constant flux
looking to find that perfect glaze. That way the
developer/origin of the original glaze can be offered
a chance to discuss the values that brought the recipe
to the forefront in the beginning. It never hurts to
ask!
This post might have little value to many of our long
time readers but new members may garner some
information from it. Good luck and happy 2002!
William Edwards
Tallapoosa River Pottery
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