5. Glazing

If I could figure out a way to not have to glaze my pottery and still have it magically appear in it’s finished form, I would.

Each piece of pottery is sprayed with a minimum of 2-3 glazes, resulting in unique results for each individual pot.

Think of a “glaze” as a creamy, water-based treat - each with a recipe all its own. I don’t pretend to have a full grasp of all of the chemistry that goes into formulating glazes from scratch and I’ve been fortunate to be able to depend on already-tested recipes from the Bethel College Art Department for the majority of the work that I’ve done in my lifetime.

In short, substances like Copper Carbonate, Zinc Oxide, Rutile, and a plethora of other chemical combinations used in glazing each react differently during firing based on a variety of variables including heat and oxygen levels within the kiln environment.

Typical timeline - probably an average of about 20 mask-wearing minutes per piece.

The "Cricket" runs off of just about any air compressor and it's good ol' fashion mason jar reservoirs serve as great storage for the various liquid glazes between uses.