Ash Glaze

Left to right: fireplace wood ashes, screen made from bucket rim and lid to screen ash and clay, clay from creek on site.

         While waiting for the pyrometric cones to come in the mail, I decided to make use of the fireplace full of high alkali hickory ash by trying to mix up some ash glaze. 

            I dug some gray/yellow clay from the creek on the property and also some high-iron red clay from among the roots of an toppled oak near the kiln. I made a sieve from window screen and the rim and lid of a 5-gallon bucket. Next, I went about sifting the charcoal and debris from the ashes and cleaning the clays. There wasn’t time to dry out the clay but I slaked it, screened it, and tried to guess at the dry weight so I could make something like a 50/50 ash and clay mixture. In the end, both came out pretty rough- no matter how much I stirred, they still would have benefited from a finer screen. I have since gotten a fine screen (100 mesh) and have been able to mix more ash glaze at a consistency that won't clog a spray bottle.  As it was, I dipped some pieces in the ash-slip and brushed it on others. This is all just a first experiment so plenty to learn!

Bug 'pottery'! (clay-lined insect tunnels from inside the firewood that was burned and fired along with the pots)

Screened ashes- still pretty coarse...

But this is the stuff that really shouldn't be in the glaze! Charcoal, twigs, nutshells... you name it.