Waterfall glazes

A few people have written asking if I'm making any tile these days. I used to blog about my tile escapades fairly frequently, but it's been a while since I posted anything about that. But the truth is - lately, I've been working on more tile work than woodwork!

The Waterfall Brown glaze featured in the book Mastering Cone Six Glazes has been an obsession of mine for a few years. But lately, the different blue variations of this glaze that I developed have been cranky with me. They've become somewhat difficult to work with - producing pinholes and blisters. And a major headache for me.

Since I developed so many different colors of this glaze, I went back to square one and decided to work with the glazes that produce consistent, gorgeous results. Here's a current favorite - Waterfall Teal. Since cobalt can often result in some glaze problems, I decided to go back to a glaze that doesn't contain any cobalt.

Here are some leaves that were fired a couple of days ago, using that teal glaze.



By slow cooling the kiln, you can get some wonderful crystal formations, like the ones shown below.

And when the glaze is applied a little thicker, the color is more vivid and interesting.



It doesn't matter whether you're talking about wood or clay, if you have consistency in your work, you can start getting good results.

I've learned this - the secret to working productively is to take good notes and learn from the good things you produce. You're better off chasing good things, than spending a lot of energy chasing the bad ones.