Feeling inspired by this rock I found yesterday, made by my absolute favorite artist, Nature herself. What a show off✨️

#ceramicmaterials #geology #geological #rocks #granite #muscovite #inspiration

A dome-shaped ceramic test tile coated in a craggy textured black slip and over that, a dusting of nepheline syenite resembling icy snow.

Another view of a dome-shaped ceramic test tile coated in a craggy textured black slip and over that, a dusting of nepheline syenite resembling icy snow.

A dome-shaped ceramic test tile coated in a dusting of Red Art clay fired to cone 6 resulting in a textural geologic surface. The Red Art sinters enough at cone 6 to hold together while retaining the rich Martian red color.

Finalizing some slip and texture tests.

#ceramics #glazechemistry #pottery #ceramicglaze #ceramicmaterials #rawmaterials #glazetesting #testtiles #contemporaryceramics #pottersofbluesky #geologic #volcanic

Anyone else trying to get ahead of the unknown, ordering clay supplies like a crazed prepper? ...with the most sincere respect to preppers ❤️.

Stacking mugs.... pattern, colour, texture, shape, repeat.

#mugshotmonday, #ceramicworkshop, #ceramicmaterials

A simple porcelain cup with an Aventurine glaze that is almost black with teeny crystal sparkles at the top, gradually shifting to a shower of larger iron crystals as it becomes more copper brown, then the crystals fade to a small shore of lighter brown with yellows, greens and sometimes flashes of blue (especially in full sunlight). This cup sits on top of a piece of Caliche, which is a calcium carbonate rock from my backyard, and also an essential ingredient in this glaze.

A large chunk of whitish Caliche on the ground, next to my feet for scale. Caliche is like a cement just below the ground surface in the Tucson Valley where I live. Anyone digging a hole here knows this rock. It is a PAIN to break through in order to ensure proper drainage for plants. People hate it.

An image of a metal mortar and pestle with pieces of Caliche that are being pulverized by hand so that I can test its compatibility in an Aventurine glaze, as a substitute for commercial calcium carbonate. Fortunately it's everywhere in my yard, and in smaller pieces than the one shown in the previous photo.

A photo of a small jar of fully pulverized Caliche on the left, adjacent to a small scale weighing a small amount of the powder as I test multiple variations of this ingredient in an existing recipe that i developed in 2019. A notebook is placed on the table above the jar and scale showing a glimpse of the test recipes.

Here's a glimpse of what goes into using Caliche as a substitute for whiting in my Caliche Aventurine glaze (shown on the cup). It's a labor of love to process and use a raw glaze ingredient from your backyard, but makes it extra special.
#glazenerd #ceramics #pottery #ceramicmaterials #ceramicglaze

A layer of dried, cracking wild clay soil taking up 3/4 of the photo in the forefront. In the background is a desert landscape.

Once you know what clay looks like in the landscape, you start seeing it everywhere. Some clays are easier to process and work with than others. Working with 'wild' clays is an alluring rabbit hole I sometimes visit.
#wildclay #ceramics #ceramicmaterials #pottery #clay #nature #landscape #desert