Kate Johnson on wed 24 nov 04
>
> Auuuuuuuugh!!! I WANT TO GO SEE MY STUFF!!
>
> OK. I'll admit it, I'm whining. Hadda let off some frustration!! Ow.
So. The darling man packed it up and BROUGHT IT TO ME. I had gotten the
front steps swept and was going to give it a try, called to see if he was
still at school, and...wow. He was on his way to my house.
And I AM a happy camper! Thank you to all who offered suggestions--Mel,
Rudy Tucker, Rick Hamelin, Cindy Bracker, Karen Elkins (A.K.A. Kate
Tiler), Lee Love, Snail Scott, Jeanne Wood, Earl Brunner, and if I've
forgotten anyone, I am really sorry! This has been great...
I _think_ I am finally getting a handle on what I'm after and what will work
for me, for the effect I want. To my surprise, it appears to be transparent
glaze with red oxide in it, over a white slip on redware. It makes little
dark flecks that make it look a bit aged, it's a good warm honey color, and
it's still transparent on the raw redware, instead of opaque as the Mason
stains seem to want to be. They look very good over the white slip, but
make too much of an opaque haze on the terra cotta...
The ochre just about disappeared! Virtually no effect. I'm still not
figuring out the logic in all this--when I added ochre to slip, it turned
reddish, when I added it to glaze, it just went pale, pale yellow--will have
to play with this more.
The Mason-tinted slip test tiles did indeed turn more interesting with the
addition of clear glaze, but none are the honey/gold/amber I was wanting.
Will try adding MORE Mason stain to the white slip...tra la!
About half the stuff in the kiln was my "normal" terra cotta/red earthenware
with plain transparent glaze. Very happy with the effect, there! (But I'm
determined to push that envelope, eh?)
So again, thank you, all of you! AND to my good friend Keith Bowen,
gentleman and scholar.
Best--
Kate
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