Glaze Day

 



Glaze day starts with me waxing the bottom of all my pieces and cleaning off any dirt. The wax burns off in the kiln. The ceramic piece cannot have glaze on the bottom or it will stick to the kiln shelf. Glaze turns to glass and it sticks to the kiln shelf. Next, I check out the glaze chart to decide what colors I want to use.

When glaze is fired it changes color in the kiln. Next, it is loaded in the kiln and preheated for 8 hours. Next, it is fired for 8 hours. It is brought to about 2300 degrees. It cools for 24 hours and then that's when "Christmas" happens. Sometimes as a ceramic artist you are pleasantly surprised with the results of the glaze firing or sometimes you get what you don't want. You never know what people are going to like though so it is good to get other opinions before you get rid of the piece. One man's trash is another man's treasure. Sarah