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Hi there, I'm new on this forum and quite new to ceramics and glazes in general so please excuse my lack of knowledge... I've been making ash glazes using this Katherine Pleydell-Bouverie nuka glaze recipe; Mixed woodash 33.0 Feldspar 33.0 Kaolin 16.5 Ball Clay 16.5 On a recent trip to China I aquired some rice straw ash and I was really excited to turn this into a glaze. From what I read rice straw ash should be very high in silica too like other (mixed) wood ashes so I used the same recipe. The results came out rather different then expected or other wood ash based glazes I made using the same recipe. It looks like the glaze didn't melt or run at all. Please see photos for your reference. It seems like there is a lack of silica and fluxed present in the glaze. I want to do some line testing by adding silica in 10% increments and another one adding flux like gersley borate but perhaps somebody here sees something I'm missing or has other ideas. The other thing that could be possible is that I misunderstood in China and I've acquired rice HULL ash instead of rice straw ash. I'm firing in an electric kiln on 1240 degrees and have gotton desirible effects with mixed wood ash glazes based on the same recipe and firing. Thank you for any suggestions or advice.

I am new to the community. My website is Eastwood Pottery I have a question regarding Hannah's Fake Blue Ash glaze. My glaze always comes out brown. I left out the RIO and just used the Cobalt Oxide but I still for the life of me cannot get blue. Does anyone out there have success using the blue ash glaze and do you use cobalt oxide as in the recipe?

Hello! New to the site and am curious about the effects of dry wood ash on glazes. I have found a lot of info about wood ash glazes, but not so much about applying dry wood ash onto an already applied and dried (or sometimes sprayed with a little water) glaze. I realize glaze recipes will vary greatly so it may not be very helpful to name any, but I have had great results (in my opinion) with the shino glaze at the pottery school I attend, please see the attached image. I have also tried this on our versions of tenmoku and iron red with results of some fluxing and gold speckling, respectively. So I suppose my question is what is it in shino glaze that reacts that way with the "freckling", for the lack of a more accurate term? (Perhaps this is carbon trapping? I do experiment with a CTC shino as well.) I'd like to experiment with other glazes and colors, but am curious to know if there is a specific ingredient (or more than one) that I should look for to possibly gauge what the results may be with applied dry wood ash. Has anyone tried this on, say, a standard celadon or spodumene glaze, if there are such things? Yes, I am about to do some test tiles, but this will take weeks for results (I am a student so at the mercy of their schedule) so any insight would be greatly appreciated as I could completely avoid any glazes that would have undesirable effect. Thank you so much. Stephen

Hello, newbie here. I want to do some experimenting with making my own wood ash glazes from local woods. I've done a fair amount of research on the subject, but I do have some questions. 1. I've decided to keep my variables simple in the first round of tests. I was thinking I'd do a simple recipe for ash glaze, which is 50 parts dry ash and 50 parts clay body. Does this sound like a reasonable place to start, or am I missing anything important? 2. I have also decided to wash all of the ash I use. I like that it will be more stable/last longer in a mixed glaze and will be less caustic. I also don't want a SUPER runny glaze, and I read that there are more fluxes in unwashed ash. I am wondering, though, what is the best way to dispose of the lye-water that I will make through the washing process? I don't want to pour it into our septic system or kill any plants or hurt the environment. 3. I'll be making plates mostly, maybe some shallow bowls. I was thinking simple, flat test tiles would be the best way to test colors and would be easiest to display later. I am a little worried about super runny glazes, though. Any suggestions for a good test tile to test glazes used on plates? 4. I am not sure what the best glaze application process would be. I don't have access to a sprayer, and it will be difficult to dip plates (especially if I don't have a LOT of glaze mixed up at a time.) Any ideas how to use either a sponge or a brush to get a fairly even coat? (I'm okay with some variation in pattern, but I want to make sure the whole surface is glossy and glazed) How thick should my glaze be when I paint it on? (Should it cover my hand completely and be like runny yogurt or should it be thinner?) 5. I've read that it's important to gather pure ash, and that ash from the fireplace doesn't always work because of the newspapers/magazines used in starting the fire. How important is it that the ash I use for glaze is absolutely 100% wood ash? Will having a little paper ash in there hurt things or make it less food safe? 6. I am thinking of adding a couple of colorants and testing those results as well. I'm going to start with copper carbonate and cobalt carbonate. I'm also thinking of trying rutile but am concerned that it contains titanium... would glazes made with rutile be food-safe? 7. I've read that ash glazes are typically high-fire glazes. I was thinking that to keep all the variables the same, I would fire all the test tiles and plates at the same temperature, probably cone 9/10. I've also read you have to go as high as 11. Thoughts? Sorry for so many questions! Like I said, I'm pretty new to ceramics and this will be my first experiment with mixing my own glazes and I'm excited but also nervous. Feel free to just answer a couple of questions, and thank all of you in advance Betsy

I am looking for a recipe for a white or light glaze. I will use it on dark clay, so I want an opaque glaze. Perhaps it should be an ash glaze. I want to burn at 1250C - cone 7 or 8. I just today got my new studio (for the first time in 15 years - hooray). Tomorrow I will order materials so a good answer is urgent - and very appreciated!