Copper matte raku, also known as copper fuming raku is a low fire technique that can produce iridescent multi-colored pottery. It involves the application of a simple copper oxide wash to bisque pots. These are then raku fired and put into a post-firing reduction atmosphere to create a vivid array of rainbow colors. There are…
Finding that your pottery clay has gone moldy is very common. Clay needs to be kept moist to stay workable and it contains organic matter. These are perfect conditions for the growth of mold. So, what can you do if you open up your bag of clay and it’s growing green and black mold? Here…
With time pottery glaze can dry out. The water content will evaporate and the glaze can either become too thick to apply. Or it can even become a bit hard and crusty, like old paint. The question is, can you add water to glaze to make it thinner? After all, glaze, particularly commercially made glaze,…
My electric kiln has a digital kiln controller. When I bought it, I thought, ‘great I don’t need to bother using cones’. But I bought it from an experienced potter. And he advised me that it’s always good to use pyrometric cones with an electric kiln controller. These are some of the reasons he gave…
Even if you use a kiln with an electric controller, it’s a good idea to use pyrometric cones when firing. But there are different types of cones and these are used differently. If you’ve just started firing your ware, you have probably wondered how to use pyrometric cones. This article is all about how to…
Making pottery pre-dates the invention of the pottery wheel by many thousands of years. One of the most extensively used methods for making early pottery was the coiling technique. Early historical coil pots have been found across the globe. Many of the techniques currently used to make coil pots date back to pre-historical times. This…
Coil pottery is a diverse technique that has been adapted to suit the styles of a wide range of ceramic artists. This article takes a look at some famous coil pottery artists and their own individual way of hand-building pottery. You will see that the methods used and the ceramics produced vary widely between each…
I sometimes find myself in a position where I don’t have the exact color glaze that I want. Recently I wondered if I could mix different types of glaze together and what would happen. So, I looked into the question of combining glazes and this is what I have found…. You can mix different types…
Kilns are insulated chambers that use fuel or electricity to reach high temperatures. When something is heated in a kiln it is described as being ‘fired’. There are different types of kiln to fire different materials. For example, there are kilns designed specifically for ceramics, glass, metal, brick, metal clay, and enamels. This article is…