So, I drew up my color tiles instead of making tiles and painting underglaze, doing inlay, waxing, and glazing them… I saved a bunch of time. My justification: it’s like choosing wallpaper. This isn’t a shortcut just to be a shortcut. I’ve already tested all of the glazes and underglazes. I just had to decide on the right color palette. I’m not taking huge risks here, but this does help me to visualize what I want. I’ve already got a kiln load being prepared so I can fire on Saturday. I found a couple of vibrant glazes that I’m really excited about– the blue and the yellow glaze. The photo doesn’t do them justice, but they’ve got these surface crystals going on that makes a great visual texture. The glazes are slightly matte, but not underfired or crystalline mattes. Well, I guess the crystal growth on the surface may be partially responsible.

I drew these up with a pen and a bunch of colored pencils, but it will be way better once I get some pots out of my kiln after this weekend. The surface of the blue glaze has these cobalt blue crystal formations on the surface that make me excited. I tried to draw them in, but it’s not nearly as effective as the real thing.

I also came up with a new glazing technique– since my new brightly colored glazes probably aren’t considered food safe, I’ve gotta have a different liner glaze on everything, so I’ve started waxing the interiors of my pots after putting the liner glaze on. Why? Because I want to keep the rim glaze line crisp and defined as best as I can, no glaze mistakes and drips– wax is the long-cut/short-cut to what I want. It takes forever to apply by brush to each and every pot, but I know it will be worth it in the firing– I will have more sellable pots per ratio. I learned that glazing technique from a friend (Adam Field of Adam Field Pottery) at a workshop in the summer of 2012.