More Cone 10 glazes and Pampered Pumpkins!
Nepheline Syenite 30
Whiting 15
Talc 5
Zinc oxide 5
Ball Clay 10
Silica 35
+ cobalt oxide 1
This is a shiny translucent glaze that has just enough movement at cone 10 to pool attractively in incised detail and give a nice change of hue as it gets thin over the rim. The glaze seems to fit my "almost porcelain" clay well. Further tests with other metal oxides to colour it, look very promising. Thus far I have tested it only in oxidation in the electric kiln, but hope to try it in the wood fired kiln to see what it will do in reduction.
Potash Feldspar 35
Whiting 10
Dolomite 20
Bentonite 5
Silica 30
Rutile 10
+ Cobalt oxide 1.5
This glaze "made my day" when I opened the kiln. Beautiful gathering of small creamy crystals where the glaze is thick, two shades of blue where slightly thinner, and pale green where the glaze is very thin.
Inside the test cup, the creamy colour predominated, and where the glaze pooled at the bottom, spiky crystals that reminded me of tiny skeletons were visible.
I have tested this further with base only without cobalt, and the glaze is an attractive warm white with a scattering of darker crystals where the glaze is thick.
This glaze will be more of an "art" glaze than one for every day things, but it is exceedingly beautiful and full of potential. I can see that there are endless variations possible with a glaze like this. Substituting titanium dioxide, or ilmenite for rutile, would be an interesting starting point, as would trying other metal oxides with, or in place of, cobalt oxide.
Edit...
Here is the Matt blue glaze that is on the right of the front row of testers in the photo at the start of this post (Linda Starr asked about it in a comment).
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| Matt Blue with 2% Cobalt Carbonate |
Cone 9 - 10 Matt Blue for oxidation or reduction. A glaze posted by Thomas on Clayarts 2007.
Soda Feldspar 51
China Clay 30
Whiting 21
Silica 8
+Cobalt Carbonate 0.5 - 4% (Pale through to bright blue)
My test gave a strong bright blue at 2% cobalt carbonate. The surface is matt and smooth, but not unpleasantly dry. I want to test further with other colorants to see how it responds.
Out in the Garden....
I have been entertained watching the adventures of a pumpkin plant that self seeded and has been sprawling over everything with great enthusiasm. It is a mistake to think of plants as being "rooted to the spot" if this pumpkin is anything to go by.
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| Mr Smaug inspecting the Pumpkin Patch. |
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| Male pumpkin flowers developing. |
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| Male pumpkin flower |
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| Female pumpkin flower. |
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| Success! A baby pumpkin has started to grow. |
With a soft paintbrush I have assisted with the pollination of some of the flowers, as insects have not always been greatly in evidence when they were needed. I am happy to report that there are some rather good looking pumpkins developing, so I feel like a pumpkin dad!
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| This pumpkin looks like a mad plumber has been hooking it up multiple water supplies! |
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| I have woven little "nests" out of flax leaves (Phormium tenax) for some of the pumpkins! |
We have also been enjoying our own new potatoes.
Comments
Good to hear from you. After reading your comment I updated my blog post and added the matt glaze that you ask about, so you should find a photo of the matt test and the recipe for it.
I have spent many happy hours watching pumpkins grow! :-) The flowers and fruit are beautiful at all stages of their growth. I am starting to loose some of the fruit through what might be a fungal disease, which is a bit sad, but the largest ones still look OK and are not too far off being able to be harvested.
All the Best to you,
Peter
Good gardening too..it will be interesting to see if the pumpkins store well..so remember to save some seed for next year!
So good to see the test glazes. Something to go for and test. I love the photos of the different stages of pumpkin growth. So rewarding when the pumpkins mature.
Sandie
Always interesting to see what the glazes do around the world, certainly never a case of "one size fits all" with the variables of local materials and different kilns. I'm desperately hoping we do actually get some pumpkins through to maturity, as I have lost 4 that have suddenly changed colour and started to die when only half grown. I suspect a fungus of some kind. Might be able to grab some of the ripest ones in a week or so. Got some good potatoes today, one was enormous and weighed 550 gms, but most have been "sensible" sizes!
Hi Sandie,
Good to hear from you. As I've said to Gwynneth, I'm rather anxious about getting some of the pumpkins through to maturity, but am hoping for the best! They are splendid things as they grow, and could and should inspire some pottery forms, both at their flowering stage and at their maturity. I must try to make some clay portraits of them before they collapse at the end of the season!
Thank you so much for your kind thoughts. It is a terrible thing what has happened here and those directly affected will be dealing with it for the rest of their lives. It can only be hoped that we become a more caring and compassionate society in the aftermath of this rather than a frightened and divided one.
Best Wishes,
P
Maria here again, a "Pumpkin Daddy" your Talents are never ending, I have spent the past 2 hours reading and admiring your work , both Pots and Horticulture...
I have also read your declaration of membership to MPN Voice etc, as a fellow member, I understood everything you stated.
I'm very confident that the many followers you have, understand that you are maybe not as prolific with posts as you once were..
I'm a cross over in reverse, you so kindly gave me the link to your true passion/calling in life and I feel rather privileged...
I would love to purchase a vase from the collection you have at the " Post Office" if only I could see a vase not too tall, bulbous/ rounded up to a narrowed neck 10 inches high thereabouts...
The colour of " Peters Red" is glorious and the Turquoise Blue hues are stunning..
I have a grandson called "Bailey" by coincidence..
I will enquire more on our other medium PM and see what you have, and think plus P&P to UK and of course, Is it Possible?
You are also quite the Artist the sketch of the Tree is quite beautiful..
Potato production looks good, considering you were concerned regarding Late Planting
Nature has rewarded you with such bounty, and the Pumpkins hopefully will be beautiful specimens..
I have told you previously I have fancied trying out throwing clay at a Pottery Class..
You have enthused me so, I will enquire at a smaller Pottery Class held in the mighty
Cheddar Gorge, UK quite the tourist attraction right on my doorstep...
My inlaws lived in Cornwall, many, many times I have watched the huge excavation of
China Clay in St Austell, Cornwall and I know it was exported all over the world and regaurded as one of the Finest !
I believe it changed hands some years ago and I have heard the end product is far more expensive and not as pure as it once was sadly..
It was the biggest employer in Cornwall and to overlook the huge cavernous craters is really something..
There was a Village Inn with a Garden and we spent many summer evenings with the children and hubby's family watching the lorries that looked like Dinky Toys transporting the Clay to the Ports to be shipped world wide...
Halcyon Days and Evenings just an hour which entertained my 2 sons, lorries etc and both small daughters were happy with an Ice Cream, the adults a Shandy and back to the homestead 4 tired children 4 weary adults, and a memory imprinted on our minds of the lorries full of Clay departing for far off places and at home of course...
I would love to see NZ and Australia across the ditch...
In fact a former Doctor of mine, deserted us for NZ, I believe she practices on the South Islands..
Hilary's description of it is," like stepping back in time to England when we were not so highly populated and green just like UK"
Life is a Tapestry and now I have done my time in Nursing for the NHS, I hope to add some Pottery to my repertoire of achievements..
I thank you sincerely for giving me the tools to look at this website, I will be a regular visitor....
My Best to You, Laura, Mr Smaug and
Nigella stopit..
Maria xx
It is lovely to hear from you and to be able to share this part of our life with you. It is a funny thing being part of the MPN Voice family and also part of a potting one, the two are very much "me", but rarely get to meet, so it is nice that a little window has opened between the two!
I have seen wonderful photos of the china clay quarries in Cornwall, most taken years ago when such industries were really thriving. I always wanted to see the real thing, as there is something so sculptural about the great slag heaps, holes in the ground and water blasted quarry faces. In the "good old days" when I was a painter, I enjoyed sketching the rather scruffy industrial buildings in town, or the working boats in port, and I suspect that I would still be very happy indeed to scribble away at quarries, machinery and old pottery kilns!
The pottery classes at Cheddar Gorge sound well worth a try. There is something quite miraculous about turning a lump of clay into a pot, and I still remember the delight of a little boy who was literally jumping up and down with joy when I was demonstrating throwing a pot on the wheel... he kept saying, "look... it is magic!" as the clay transformed itself from a blob in the middle of the wheel, to something tall. We need magic and miracles in life I think!
I will correspond further with you regarding the purchase of a vase. It certainly can be done, and I do send work overseas from time to time.
So very good to hear from you. Thank you for your encouragement.
Best Wishes from all of us here,
Peter xx
Very nice to hear from you. We were talking about Te Kuiti only a few minutes back, and your name came up!!! :-) We heard that the old house in Mangarino Road burned down recently, someone let Laura know, and she read about it in the Waitomo News online. She was a bit sad that it went like that.
All the Best to you,
Peter & Laura xx