Le Dungeon

(glaze master Gary)
My pal Ellen swapped some glaze recipes with me. She rec'd my strawberry plus one or two more, and has had great success with it. She gave me a few, including JADE. The ingredients use (don't pretend to understand, just nod and read on) custer feldspar and a large amount of rutile, I used dark rutile. Rutile is interesting because it is a combination of iron and titanium oxide, which is famous for its SPECKLY EFFECTS. So, I am thinking this has some interesting potential, and I am firing batch number one today. Yesterday I went down into the basement which was gloriously cool (well, dark and dank, but comfortable compared to muggy outside) and mixed the jade and some other glazes, and will mix more today. I really hate mixing glazes--powders wafting all over the place. But the setup and cleanup are the biggest part of the job, so I am mixing many glazes this week. On the weekend I will be driving over to get supplies, and this way I know what I am running out of, plus the clay.