The glaze I've been chasing for a month that comes out different every single firing
ok so I mixed this green glaze a month ago and every cone 6 firing it's a whole different color. first batch came out a deep forest with a matte finish, second one bright almost jade, third one this weird grey-green that I actually hated and then loved by the end of the week. same recipe, same bucket, same clay body. the only variable is how long I let it sit between firings and I'm starting to think that's the whole story.
I've got three vessels sitting in the same kiln load right now, all dipped in the same bucket at the same time, and I'm genuinely nervous they'll come out as three different greens. which would be fine if I wasn't trying to sell them as a set.
I know the ceramic answer is probably "just mix it fresh every time" but there's something I like about the unreliability, you know? like the glaze has its own mood that day. is that a cop-out or is that actually a thing people lean into?
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Now that right there sounds like a glaze with a mind of its own, and I mean that kindly. I've known that same frustration with dye lots in fabric, where the same bolt will take color different from one week to the next and you can't figure why. Time sitting changes things, honey, there's no shame in that. That grey-green you hated and then loved by Friday, that's the part I'd hold onto. Some things need to settle before they show you what they are.
Three vessels out of the same bucket coming out different, that might be a gift in disguise. That's how you learn what it can do. Write it all down, every firing, how long it sat, where it was in the kiln. One day you'll be able to call it. That's the fun part, when the mystery starts behaving.🙂
you get it completely. "a glaze with a mind of its own" is exactly it, it's like the bucket has moods. and yeah that grey-green one is honestly the one I keep thinking about, it was the ugly friend and then it turned out to be the one that made me go oh. so now I'm almost scared to love it because what if I can't ever get it again, you know?
and you're right about the settling thing. I've got notebooks full of "fire this one right after mix" vs "let it sit a week" and there's a pattern in there, I just haven't cracked the code yet. the fabric thing is wild though, I never would've made that connection but it makes total sense. different materials, same stubbornness.