The Art and Science of Glaze Chemistry 6/24 - 6/28

With Gwendolyn Yoppolo.

This workshop will help you build an approach to experimenting with raw materials that is at once scientifically grounded and intuitively creative. You will design and conduct experiments to learn how ceramic oxides interact, explore trends in color response, adjust surface properties, add visual and tactile textures, and discover new recipes. We’ll back up the lab work by studying the unity molecular formula system to understand the role of flux families, glass former to refractory ratios, phase separation, and color response of various ceramic oxides and stains. The aim of your work will be to develop a unique palette of colors and surfaces at cone 6, by guiding your own experiments that include color runs, line blends, equal part blends, triaxial and biaxial blends, and individually-designed nontraditional blends. We will give special attention to the use of rare earth oxides for intriguing color-shifting and fluorescent results.