The course is designed to make all the complicated gobbledygook available and accessible to potters. We will be using lots of visual tools, such as colour coding and graphs, and telling the mystery of glaze chemistry as a story. It makes it so much more fun and so much easier to remember… and I will provide lots of handouts so you don’t have to remember it all!

Day 1: part 1 – Building a foundation

·    What actually makes a glaze?

·    Reduce a million ingredients to 10-12 basic oxide

·    Wrapping our heads around the Unity Molecular Formula (UMF)

Day 1: part 2 – Bring on the heat

(practicum with computer)

·      What is heatwork (and when will my glaze melt)

·      Controlling the surface and texture

·      What makes a glaze stable, durable, and good

Day 2: part 1 – I’m a material girl

·      How to use all the materials

·      Substitutions and unavailable materials

·      What about colour?

Day 2: part 2 – Practice, practice, practice (practicum with computer)

·      Wrangling the glazy.org calculator

·      Strategies for controlling the chemistry

·      Discussing common glaze flaws (pinholing, blistering, crazing, shivering)

Day 3: part 1 – Designing a glaze

·      How to think about your ideal glaze

·      Mapping glaze effects

·      How to build on existing glazes

Day 3: part 2 – Designing glaze tests (practicum with computer)

·      Defining your glaze chemistry

·      Exploring varying testing strategies

·      NOTE: Bring your own laptop (or tablet)

Day 4 – Getting testy
(practicum mixing)

·      Getting practical

·      Minimal mixing for maximum test results: coaxial and triaxial blends

·      NOTE: Bring your own PPE

Day 5 – Review

·      Discussing test results:
colour response, texture, and melt

·      How to control larger batches with Specific Gravity

·      Q&A

Come join and explore what makes glazes tick! Learn what it means for a glaze to be good, stable, and durable. Focus your glaze exploration towards more successful results and confidence in identifying and dealing with issues. With the help of glazy.org and a bit of new knowledge, chemistry for potters has never been easier!

Participants are expected to bring:

-    their own laptops/tablets

-    PPE for mixing glazes

-    15 glaze test tiles in a light/buff clay

-    15 test tiles in a clay of their choice

Materials for glaze tests will be provided as part of the course.

Glaze tests will be fired as part of the course (limited to cone 6 neutral).