Glazes~ How Many is Too Many?

I spent yesterday glazing- a huge ordeal- it occurred to me that I really have too many glazes....




I counted.

18...really, 18??









All are hand mixed, most of my own recipe...though a few from books. I categorized them:

  • Goldenrod, Indian Lake, Carmel Cream, Caribbean Seas, Turquoise, and Stony Blue are currently primary glazes.

  • Clouds, Leach White, and Kings Creek Blue are "accent" colors

  • Sun Valley Rutile, 8 o'clock, Autumn Leaf, Maize and Battenkill I use occasionally

  • Denim, Copperwash, Ken's Blue and Oatmeal I plan to phase out.

Oh, and I recently made two shinos to use in the wood fire, but consider them special event glazes...(do I count them too?!)

Am I neurotic, hard to please, fickle??  Uh, YEAH~

I just found two more...Kelly's Black and Persimmon. It's out of control.


How many glazes do you use?

8 comments:

Patricia Griffin said...

You're rich in glazes!

Hollis Engley said...

I hate mixing them as much as you do, Kathy.Maybe more. Thanks for the comments on my blog. I was surprised to see you're in Schoharie County. Any chance you know my sister-in-law, Ellen Langwig? Ellen and her husband Russ live in Schoharie. She's a special needs teacher and he's a lawyer. Good people. You should meet them if you haven't yet. You could trade haying stories. Nothing like a good haying story ...
Hollis Engley
Hatchville Pottery

Kings Creek Pottery said...

Thanks Patricia~ though I'm thinking it's more of a curse than a blessing!

Hollis~ I do not know Ellen, though I will try to track her down (shouldn't be too difficult in this small town!). There is a good chance my husband knows- the haying community and he is a Schoharie "life-er". Congrats on the Studio Potter article- can't wait to read it. I love your blog too :)
-Kathy

Linda Starr said...

Wow, that's a whole lot of glazes and they all sound wonderful by their names; variety is the spice of life as I say as long as they don't go stale from non use.

Kings Creek Pottery said...

Oh...a stale glaze? I've never heard of such a thing! Thanks for mentioning that, I'll keep an eye on them.

TropiClay Studio said...

I could only wish for that many colors!

Anonymous said...

Looking back now, do you have any suggestions for a new potter who is just starting to mix her own glaze? Thanks, Liz Hoffmann

Kings Creek Pottery said...

Hi Liz-

1) Keep really good, organized, clear records!!
2) Find a few stable glaze bases in 'your' cone (I started with a few from Daniel Rhodes "Clay and Glazes for the Potter" revised edition by Robin Hopper)
3) Create a system for what forms you will test on- some use a small bowl shape, others make extruded shapes and number each of them to coincide with your record book
4)get a good respirator!
5)don't hesitate to get in touch if you need/want more support :)

Best of luck Liz, I am sure you will do great. There is a lot of satisfaction to creating your own glazes.

-Kathy