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INSIGHT Seminar

The INSIGHT seminar is an evolving entity and is the product of feedback from large numbers of people that visit our web site and use our software. It is conducted by Tony and Diana Hansen (Tony is the author of INSIGHT, the Magic of Fire book and the Digitalfire.com and CeramicMaterials.info web sites and has been intensely involved in this endeavor since 1980). Sessions are conducted with plenty of hands-on samples and a video projector is used to display the computer screen (Macintosh and Windows are both used). Efforts are made to make the presentation instructional, inspirational, personal and enjoyable for all, and above all, practical.

Who Should Attend

People do not need to know about chemistry, but they should be the studious type and some of the following:

want to understand glazes and why they do what they do
not be afraid of using computers
concerned about things like glaze hardness, resistance to leaching, crazing
want to understand ceramic materials
want to liven up the dead glazes they are used to using
have persistent glaze problems that they cannot solve like crazing, settling, blistering, pinholing
want to formulate their own glazes from natural materials
want to move to a different firing temperature
tired of being on the glaze recipe treadmill and want to adopt a base-recipe-with-adjustments approach
want to make special effect or reactive glazes or special glaze colors
want to increase or decrease the use of stains and frits
like to fiddle with glazes to adjust matteness, opacity, variegation, fluidity, color
need to substitute materials, lower costs, reduce the number of materials used, improve glaze application properties

Source Materials for Presentation

INSIGHT Manual and CD are the primary sources. The INSIGHT manual is written as a guide to the mechanics of using the software but also as an introduction to the value of ceramic chemistry and how to exploit it. The manual contains many lessons demonstrating practical use of the software to solve problems and adjust and formulate glazes. The CD contains videos that demonstrate each lesson. Digitalfire also has extensive online information resources and printed material that support INSIGHT. The course will demonstrate how and when to employ these resources.

Feedback Influence on the Presentation

The Digitalfire web site collects feedback from hundreds of volunteer visitors who specify topics they would like to see in the seminar. The following are the most popular (as of March 2006). All will be covered in varying degrees (some are woven into existing aspects of the course, others are dealt with specifically). Some related clay body topics are covered.

72.4% - Crystalline glazes: An example of needing to understand chemistry and materials:
61.4% - Identifying mechanisms of glaze appearance and transplanting these into your own recipes:
60.7% - Varying glaze matteness, color, opacity, crystals, variegation, fluidity, homogeneity:
68.3% - How to make glazes dance with visual character and control associated problems:
62.8% - Ethics of glazing: Important factors in making glazes strong, durable and non-leaching:
62.1% - Formulating glazes from locally available materials (ash, clays, shales, rocks):
61.4% - Making more interesting glazes at cone 6:
62.1% - Making your own glazes for low temperatures and understanding their limitations:
62.1% - How do I know when to use a chemistry, materials, or mineralogy approach?:
64.8% - Formulating your own glaze from scratch:
60.0% - Looking at existing glaze recipes with a critical eye:
64.8% - Avoiding harmful materials: How to minimize their use:
57.9% - What are frits, why are they used, what are their shortcomings:
51.0% - The relationship between chemistry and fired glaze properties like matteness, color, melting temp:
46.2% - Starting with a base-glaze-with-adjustments approach:
40.0% - Dealing with fired glaze problems like crazing, fit, blistering, running, devitrification:
42.8% - Understanding glaze adherence, coverage, draining, drying, dry hardness properties:
44.1% - What is glaze chemistry, why do I need it, can I possibly understand it?:
45.5% - How to select the right clay body for the job at hand:
40.0% - Typical clay body recipes employed by manufacturers:
49.0% - Using FORESIGHT to track clay body formulation and testing projects:
31.7% - The difference between commercial bottled glazes and ones you make:
34.5% - Learning from the way glazing is done in industry:
36.6% - Understanding the basic mechanisms of glaze slurries:
37.9% - Substituting materials in recipes while maintaining chemistry and working properties:
31.7% - How does one go about formulating a clay body?:
35.2% - What factors besides the recipe are important?:
35.2% - Why is the "perfect clay" impossible?:
35.2% - Testing clay materials, making your own stoneware and porcelain bodies:
37.9% - How to formulate and mix slip clays and cast them properly:
32.4% - How to make clay body manufacturers accountable for their products:
28.3% - Why do I need to know about material mineralogy?:
24.1% - Making a slip that fits your clay and has the surface you want:
29.0% - What exactly is FORESIGHT software and why is it so important:

Cost and Venue

Our year-long survey shows that people who would attend a seminar at an art center or art club are willing to pay on average around $150 (although there is a wide variation, e.g. $50 to $500 or more) and they are split between a longer and more instructional presentation vs. a short and more inspirational one. Schools and universities who want a seminar generally can pay very little. Our plan is thus to customize the remuneration to each situation. For educational institutions we are likely to ask that they buy a site license for INSIGHT (about $350) as basic payment and we will extend a 60% discount on copies of INSIGHT for attendees. For other groups we are likely to ask non-INSIGHT owners $150 per person and give them a free copy of INSIGHT ($159 value). For INSIGHT owners we will ask $100 and give them a free upgrade ($50 value). We will try to organize a mixture of both types of presentations for each trip.

Venue Requirements

We need a meeting room, a white board or blackboard, a white wall or screen on which to project and a way to subdue lights enough to make the projected image visible. Although a phone line that can be dialed by computer modem is good (we have an Earthlink account for access in most places in North America) we can simulate the internet by bringing our own web server. We are flexible and can do the presentation in as little as 5 hours or can spread it over two days for a total of 8-10 hours.

Benefits

Students will be able to begin formulating their own glazes and use new materials in new ways
They will understand and learn to look critically at glazes they already use and they will learn ways to improve or fix them.
They will better understand ceramic materials and the interplay between chemistry, mineralogy and physical properties
They will learn new direction with glazes and where to start to begin understanding them in this new way
Many will turn some important lights on that will fundamentally alter their approach to glaze and glazing
Many answer some long held questions and deal with some old and persistent glaze problems
Many will learn to value technical non-visual properties of glazes and a new sense of ethics and responsibility for quality and safety

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Other Seminars

Others teach INSIGHT seminars also, we are planning a list them here. Also, please check with Ron Roy.


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