A porcelain test tiles showing a clear glaze made from the minerals and rock just behind the tile.

Three porcelain test tiles in the foreground. Left to right: The left tile is a gritty primitive attempt at making a rock glaze using local materials. The middle tile is another attempt using local materials that created a tan, cracking glaze. The right tile is finally looking like a clear glaze! Yay!

Meet my Sky Islands clear glaze! The recipe consists of 90% locally scavenged calcium carb, quartz, and feldspar (1st photo). 2nd photo shows earlier attempts at making a clear desert mineral/rock glaze.

#geology #rocks #minerals #ceramics #ceramicglaze #glazenerd #pottersofbluesky #artprocess

Little moments, big messes, lots of love #ceramicart
#potterylove
#potteryprocess
#makersofbluesky
#mudlife
#potterycommunity
#glazenerd
#kilnlife
#handbuiltceramics

From wheel to shelf — the latest batch
#potterylove
#potteryprocess
#makersofbluesky
#mudlife
#potterycommunity
#glazenerd
#kilnlife
#handbuiltceramics

A stoneware cup with a homemade Caliche Aventurine glaze, with juicy crystalline drips.

A magnified, microscopic view within a glaze drip. On the left is a pattern of dappled and striated blues and greens overlaid on the right by a shimmery, iridescent crystal.

A magnified, microscopic view within a glaze drip. It looks like a vibrant green dragon's eye or a green leafy structure with a golden crystal formation above the green.

A magnified, microscopic view within a glaze drip. I see a rabbit like face and ears within a purple and golden crystalline formation.

Using a digital microscope to explore the landscapes within the glaze drips on one fresh new cup. I spent hours filled with awe and curiosity while wandering around entire places invisible to the naked eye.
#glazenerd #ceramicglaze #glazechemistry #potteryofbluesky #sciart #microscopic #ceramics

A porcelain cup glazed with a homemade Caliche Aventurine, with calcium carbonate from my backyard. This glaze has a dark background comprised of a gradient from black to dark brown with subtle hints of green and purple. In the foreground are iron crystals varying in size and density, flowing downward like a crystalline shower.

A view of the bottom of the cup, showing how the glaze flowed off the cup in two spots to form perfectly suspended drips. The drips did not hit the kiln shelf, fortunately.

The Caliche Aventurine glaze flowed off a few cups while in the kiln. I know I should sand those drips off, but what if I give whomever buys it the option to sand or not to sand? I love how the cup is a bit imbalanced but won't tip over.
#glazenerd #ceramics #pottery #potteryofbluesky #ceramicglaze

#glazenerd #ceramics #pottery

A cup with an aventurine glaze made with local calcium carbonate rock, caliche. Each batch looks slightly different because of variations in the chemical composition of the caliche. This one has teeny glittery sparkles in a black glaze matrix along the rim, the crystals gradually growing in size taking on a coppery color and drifting downwards in a reddish brown and greenish glaze matrix. The crystals rain down, gathering in a carpet along the bottom of the cup.

A perpetual caliche aventurine glaze, inspired by perpetual stews that can continue cooking for decades with fresh ingredients added. Glaze batch 2 was added to batch 1, using a different caliche for a slight variation in appearance.

#pottersofbluesky #ceramics #ceramicglaze #glazenerd #pottery

An aventurine glaze. At the top of a mug, the glaze is densely packed with tiny sparkly crystals that transition to larger sparkly crystals until it becomes a transparent reddish brown glaze with larger pointy, silvery grey metallic crystals as well as yellow gold crystals floating in it.

A close up view of the same glaze.

A glaze that appeared in a lineblend while I was learning about and developing an aventurine in 2019. It was hard to duplicate so I kind of abandoned it. I think I'm ready to try again but with caliche from my backyard, just to complicate things😂
#glazenerd #ceramicglaze #pottersofbluesky #ceramics

Bouclé Cups - I had to fire them three times to get the surface texture I was looking for. 🤪

#pottersofbluesky #ceramics #glazenerd

#keramiek #kristal #kristalglazuur #glazenerd

#ceramics #natureart #keramiek #oester #oyster #glazenerd #chemistry

My latest project - crystalline glazes that don't run (I hate to clean my kiln shelves)

#pottersofbluesky #ceramicglaze #swedishpottersofbluesky #glazenerd #ceramicglaze #glazechemistry

Two testtiles, both brushed with porcelain slip. In the left a light amber colored crackled glaze, with a bit of pooling on the bottom. On the right the same glaze, only on the top, but with a greenish gray hue and some dark spots due to the silicon carbide. You also see most of the porcelain slip here. There are numbers stamped on the bottom of the tiles. Left says 262, rights 263.

Seeing @samirahsteinmeyer.bsky.social 's glaze tests reminded me of this celadon crackle glaze I made with local clay. On the right is the same glaze, but with a pinch of silicon carbide added. I love that reduced look, could do with a bit less SiC though I think.

#glazes #ceramics #glazenerd

Six small rock samples of different sizes and colors. The three on the top row were used to make one 90% local rock glaze, and the bottom three to make another version. Both versions made a clear glaze. So...more testing in 2025

A few rows of ceramic test tiles with test glazes, one of which (a tan colored one in the center) is comprised of the leftovers from the two 90% local rock glazes previously mentioned. Other test tiles include reddish brown colored glazes to the left and behind, and flat test tiles to the right with rock tests.

The two clear glaze tests made from local rocks were combined to make this glaze: a transparent, golden brown glaze with some crazing/cracking and where applied thickly has internal bubbles that remained encased in the glaze (did not become pinholes). It has the appearance of a carbonated beer. I call this my Tucson Glaze, named after my location.

A 90% local rock glaze test. I've always wondered how my landscape would look in glaze form. This is a Leach glaze using responsibly gathered rocks. I made 2 versions, tested them, then combined the leftovers. I think it looks kinda like beer.
#glazenerd #geology #pottersofbluesky #ceramic #glaze

More inspiration from the archives

#glazenerd #ceramicglazes #pottersofbluesky #ceramics #keramik #keramikglasyrer #egnaglasyrer

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

All the pinch pots for glaze testing. I prefer these over test tiles cuz I don't have to worry about them falling onto my other work or have the glaze run onto the shelves.

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#pottery
#potteryglaze
#ceramicglaze
#glazenerd

...I'll eventually join you on the #glazenerd feed☺️ Good job being first!!

No one else using #glazenerd hashtag 😂

Crawling glaze - I’m obsessed with tactile surfaces on functional pieces.

#pottery #maker #glazenerd