End of Season

A dozen or so firings complete this round of crystal glaze firings; rather successful on the whole,with two bowls off to the exhibition in Tel Aviv, 30 bud vases,some pleasing tea-bowls and 4-5 large bowls that were not quite good enough for the show. I resisted the temptation to change the firing schedule from kiln to kiln,and,as a result,learned quite a lot about the finer points of glaze application- using gum,re-glazing fired pieces and applying glaze by pouring.This last kiln taught me that,contrary to what I have believed for many years,the glaze doesn't have to be applied in such a thick layer; it can't be too thin either- like just about every other parameter with these glazes,it needs to be just right. The pieces here have,as far as I'm concerned,just the right balance of crystal and background,and the crystals themselves are round and well-defined,which is how I like them. I even made some headway with the red slip/crystal glaze combination that I started to play with last time...