Sue McLeod Ceramics
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suemcleodceramics

Weekly blog posts about ceramic glazes.
Download my free specific gravity guide and join my FB group for glaze discussions.
🤓🤓🤓
👇 Click link 👇

Instagram post 2155241453767506009_230270346 The other day I needed to add bentonite to a glaze that was already mixed with water and my mind was flooded with warnings and rules about bentonite.⁠ ⁠ When I was in school and learning to mix my own glazes, I was warned: “Make sure you add bentonite to the DRY materials and mix them together BEFORE you add any water.”⁠ ⁠ It was good advice.⁠ ⁠ The reason for the warning is when bentonite gets wet it swells and gels and sticks together and becomes tricky to incorporate into the rest of the glaze.⁠ ⁠ But what if you need to add bentonite to a wet glaze? Since those early days, I've learned other ways of dealing with bentonite and decided to write an article about it.⁠ ⁠ It's very simple and convenient and I don't know why we aren't taught this method from the beginning! At least, I wasn't.⁠ ⁠ Read all the details in my latest blog post called "How to Add Bentonite to a Wet Glaze". There's even a video showing you how I do it. Follow link in bio.⁠ ⁠ What were you taught about bentonite? Have you been challenged by it in the past? Let me know in the comments.⁠ 🤓⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ #understandingglazes #howglazeswork #glazechemistry #ceramicscience #materialscience #bentonite #clay #hardpanning #exploringtheartandscienceofceramics #sciencemeetsart #canadianceramics ⁠
Instagram post 2136766225676695589_230270346 And now, they are candles 🕯️ Translucent porcelain soy wax glow candles, to be exact. I think it's amazing that each one started as a lump of clay. Clay is amazing 😍
Instagram post 2135119754057384666_230270346 Do you see the sunlight shining through the bottom? I just love translucent porcelain.
Instagram post 2135000371121337009_230270346 Outta the kiln 😍 Really happy with how these turned out.
Instagram post 2133080764286345780_230270346 One of my lichen glazed pots waiting for the firing. I love how the cracked glaze looks before its fired. Fingers crossed it looks as good after 🤞
Instagram post 2133073719030065801_230270346 Testing lichen glazes. Freshly dipped glaze drying, shrinking and cracking. This is 2 minutes condensed into 5 seconds. Super cool!
Instagram post 2132233879406757242_230270346 New Blog Post: How Well Are You Mixing Your Glazes?⁠ 🤓⁠ A glaze that's not mixed well enough can turn out drastically different than you are expecting. If you don't have a high speed mixer, you have to make sure you're stirring for a sufficient amount of time.⁠ 🤓⁠ In this article, I share a stirring experiment I did to show how long it takes to fully homogenize one of our studio's large buckets of glaze using the mixing stick that the studio provides. Hint: it's probably longer than you think. Link in bio.⁠ 🤓⁠ If you love figuring out glazes, come on over to my Facebook group - Understanding Glazes with Sue - for ongoing discussions, troubleshooting and sharing experiences. Link in bio to request access.⁠ 😁
Instagram post 2125777546548323976_230270346 Making cone packs. I put at least one cone pack in every firing. Sometimes a cone pack on each shelf. You never know when you'll need them until it's too late. 🤓 Do you put witness cones in your firings? I recommend starting if you don't. Even one cone for your target temp is way better than no cones. 🤓 Cones measure "heat work" as opposed to "temperature". Temperature is just a number that tells you how hot something is at a specific moment. Temperature doesn't take into account the amount of time an object has spent at that temperature or the accumulation of temperature over time. 🤓 Think about cooking something in the oven. You can put food in the oven, turn it on and heat it to 375° (I know you would preheat first but go with it). Maybe the oven takes 10 minutes to reach 375° or maybe it takes an hour. The food that took an hour to reach 375° will be more cooked than the food that took 10 mins reaching the same temperature. The final temperature in the oven is 375° in both cases. The difference is heat work. 🤓 Food needs to spend time at a temperature to cook and so do clay and glazes. The final temperature of a firing tells you nothing about whether the clay has been fired to its maturing temperature. It depends on the speed of the firing. Cone 6 is reached at a lower temperature in a slow firing than a fast firing. 🤓 By using witness cones, you can see exactly how much "heat work" your pots have experienced. Witness cones will tell you about the health of your kiln, like if it's underfiring or overfiring, if your elements are weak and needing replaced, or if your kiln sitter needs re-calibrating. 🤓 Cones will also tell you why your glazes are misbehaving and it's the first question I ask when someone comes to me with a glaze issue - "What do the cones look like?" Even knowing that you're half a cone under or overfired can explain so much. 🤓 If you're not using witness cones, I encourage you to start. Your kiln program might not be as accurate as you had hoped. Programs can be adjusted as long as you know what's really happening in there. 😘
Instagram post 2123496388452080454_230270346 Finally finished all that trimming. Trimming takes me twice as long as throwing, for some reason. Is that normal??
Load More... Follow on Instagram

suemcleodceramics

Weekly blog posts about ceramic glazes.
Download my free specific gravity guide and join my FB group for glaze discussions.
🤓🤓🤓
👇 Click link 👇

Instagram post 2155241453767506009_230270346 The other day I needed to add bentonite to a glaze that was already mixed with water and my mind was flooded with warnings and rules about bentonite.⁠ ⁠ When I was in school and learning to mix my own glazes, I was warned: “Make sure you add bentonite to the DRY materials and mix them together BEFORE you add any water.”⁠ ⁠ It was good advice.⁠ ⁠ The reason for the warning is when bentonite gets wet it swells and gels and sticks together and becomes tricky to incorporate into the rest of the glaze.⁠ ⁠ But what if you need to add bentonite to a wet glaze? Since those early days, I've learned other ways of dealing with bentonite and decided to write an article about it.⁠ ⁠ It's very simple and convenient and I don't know why we aren't taught this method from the beginning! At least, I wasn't.⁠ ⁠ Read all the details in my latest blog post called "How to Add Bentonite to a Wet Glaze". There's even a video showing you how I do it. Follow link in bio.⁠ ⁠ What were you taught about bentonite? Have you been challenged by it in the past? Let me know in the comments.⁠ 🤓⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ #understandingglazes #howglazeswork #glazechemistry #ceramicscience #materialscience #bentonite #clay #hardpanning #exploringtheartandscienceofceramics #sciencemeetsart #canadianceramics ⁠
Instagram post 2136766225676695589_230270346 And now, they are candles 🕯️ Translucent porcelain soy wax glow candles, to be exact. I think it's amazing that each one started as a lump of clay. Clay is amazing 😍
Instagram post 2135119754057384666_230270346 Do you see the sunlight shining through the bottom? I just love translucent porcelain.
Instagram post 2135000371121337009_230270346 Outta the kiln 😍 Really happy with how these turned out.
Instagram post 2133080764286345780_230270346 One of my lichen glazed pots waiting for the firing. I love how the cracked glaze looks before its fired. Fingers crossed it looks as good after 🤞
Instagram post 2133073719030065801_230270346 Testing lichen glazes. Freshly dipped glaze drying, shrinking and cracking. This is 2 minutes condensed into 5 seconds. Super cool!
Instagram post 2132233879406757242_230270346 New Blog Post: How Well Are You Mixing Your Glazes?⁠ 🤓⁠ A glaze that's not mixed well enough can turn out drastically different than you are expecting. If you don't have a high speed mixer, you have to make sure you're stirring for a sufficient amount of time.⁠ 🤓⁠ In this article, I share a stirring experiment I did to show how long it takes to fully homogenize one of our studio's large buckets of glaze using the mixing stick that the studio provides. Hint: it's probably longer than you think. Link in bio.⁠ 🤓⁠ If you love figuring out glazes, come on over to my Facebook group - Understanding Glazes with Sue - for ongoing discussions, troubleshooting and sharing experiences. Link in bio to request access.⁠ 😁
Instagram post 2125777546548323976_230270346 Making cone packs. I put at least one cone pack in every firing. Sometimes a cone pack on each shelf. You never know when you'll need them until it's too late. 🤓 Do you put witness cones in your firings? I recommend starting if you don't. Even one cone for your target temp is way better than no cones. 🤓 Cones measure "heat work" as opposed to "temperature". Temperature is just a number that tells you how hot something is at a specific moment. Temperature doesn't take into account the amount of time an object has spent at that temperature or the accumulation of temperature over time. 🤓 Think about cooking something in the oven. You can put food in the oven, turn it on and heat it to 375° (I know you would preheat first but go with it). Maybe the oven takes 10 minutes to reach 375° or maybe it takes an hour. The food that took an hour to reach 375° will be more cooked than the food that took 10 mins reaching the same temperature. The final temperature in the oven is 375° in both cases. The difference is heat work. 🤓 Food needs to spend time at a temperature to cook and so do clay and glazes. The final temperature of a firing tells you nothing about whether the clay has been fired to its maturing temperature. It depends on the speed of the firing. Cone 6 is reached at a lower temperature in a slow firing than a fast firing. 🤓 By using witness cones, you can see exactly how much "heat work" your pots have experienced. Witness cones will tell you about the health of your kiln, like if it's underfiring or overfiring, if your elements are weak and needing replaced, or if your kiln sitter needs re-calibrating. 🤓 Cones will also tell you why your glazes are misbehaving and it's the first question I ask when someone comes to me with a glaze issue - "What do the cones look like?" Even knowing that you're half a cone under or overfired can explain so much. 🤓 If you're not using witness cones, I encourage you to start. Your kiln program might not be as accurate as you had hoped. Programs can be adjusted as long as you know what's really happening in there. 😘
Instagram post 2123496388452080454_230270346 Finally finished all that trimming. Trimming takes me twice as long as throwing, for some reason. Is that normal??
Load More... Follow on Instagram

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