The Blanket Creek Production Process: Glazing
Production Process » Glazing
The "secret" to these elusive glazes begins a surprisingly obvious place: the ground where I live and work. I started experimenting with local clay dug from right outside the studio in 1999 by mixing it with water, sieving through a screen, then adding a few other materials to get it to melt into a glaze. Over the years I have seen just about every color in this glaze. The most common one is amber (the fusion of all colors), which serves as a background over which the various hues appear to come out of.
How the Glazes are Applied
The glazes are applied by various combinatations of pouring, dipping and spraying. The spray gun I use was designed for automotive paint ("Finish Line" model) and has a particularly large nozzle (2.2 mm) which works surprisingly well for spraying mud! All pots require at least one pass with the sprayer and many are glazed entirely this way. Spraying allows me to apply them in layers where precise control of thickness is essential.
A spray booth is required for this technique. Mine has a 12" tubeaxial fan that vents directly outside via metal ducting. Aside from spraying, it is also used when mixing glazes as well as for general studio ventillation, quickly removing excess dust from the air.
The Glazing Studio
As the pots are unloaded from the bisque kiln they are brought back to the clay studio, which is then transformed into the glazing studio. Every available flat surface is used during the process in order to glaze the 200 or so pots needed to fill the kiln.
A company that installs kitchen sinks gives me all the Formica™ cutouts I can use. Most of the tables, shelves, carts, and even the spray booth are made from this easy-to-clean material.
Next step: Loading the Kiln >>
[ return to top ]