Glaze, Slip, and Engobe Combinations

[kylerundel]

Hello all. I am currently working on a large-scale ceramic bust.  I am looking to glaze it in a way that brings a lot of texture into the piece. I like the look of lichen and crawl glazes, and have played around with them in the past. However, I think that is a little basic for such a large-scale piece. I am looking to bring even more layers and texture into the piece. I saw this piece by Paul Wearing, who I am super inspired by. He mentioned: "On these pieces I have used four slips, three volcanic glazes, three barium glazes and two crawl glazes". I was wondering how I could achieve something similar to this with so many different textures and layers. I am not looking to copy this specific example, but I want to have somewhere to start my experiments. I do my work at my university, so I have pretty much an infinite supply of raw glaze materials. If anyone has any ideas or recommendations, it would be greatly appreciated.

[Min]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Somewhere to start might be looking at Terra Sig with added materials such as salt, soda ash, oxides and stain and borax. Washes would be another avenue to experiment with. . Also have a look at Mary Fox’s work where she uses lithium carb plus copper for a dry surface. (on some of her lowfire sculptural work)

This articles from Pottery Making Illustrated might be a good place to start for alternative surfaces. It’s behind a paywall but you can access 3 free articles a month.

https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/pottery-making-illustrated/pottery-making-illustrated-article/In-the-Studio-Washes-and-Patinas#

Perry’s wash recipes are for cone 10, for lower firing adding flux would probably be necessary for some of them. Also, firing in oxidation rather than reduction will make a difference with some of them.

http://shambhalapottery.blogspot.com/2013/03/happy-st-paddys-day.html

Pit firing would be another avenue to explore.