URL: Digitalfire Reference Database
Click the link below to go to this page
https://digitalfire.com/4sight/material/index.html
This is the traditional ceramics reference website that couples with your account at insight-live.com.
Related Information
Fight the dragon with Insight-live
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Fight the glaze dragon. Disorganized documentation of your testing? You are playing into his hands. Replace that notebook or binder with pictures, recipes, firing schedules, test results, material and more in your own or a group account at insight-live.com.
Clay is dirt. Glaze is powdered rock and glass.
Why do they cost so much? DIY is the answer.
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Historically, pottery has been a shining star of resilience and independence because the materials were in the ground nearby. So why are they coming thousands of miles in shipping containers? Because you can't just head out to the nearest hill with your wheelbarrow. But you are not helpless either.
Rather than viewing these containers as full of specific brand-name clays, minerals and man-made powders, it is better to view them as full of materials that supply the physical properties and chemistries needed to make bodies, glazes, engobes, slips, etc. By characterizing your glazes and bodies, using an effective record-keeping system, you can not only adjust recipes to adapt to changing supplies, but even improve them in the process (adjusting glaze thermal expansion, temperature, surface, color, etc). Or, use materials native to your area. It is not rocket science; it is just work and gradual learning accompanied by organized record-keeping, good labelling and interpretation skills.
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Tony Hansen
Tony Hansen is the author of Digitalfire Insight, Digitalfire Reference Library and Insight-Live.com, he is a long-time potter, ceramic lab-technician and body and glaze developer. |
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