How to Make an Ash Glaze
A potter can turn clay, mud and ash into beautiful and useful objects that can last for thousands of years. The earliest examples of fired ceramics come from Czechoslovakia, where ancient craftsmen used two kilns to create fired-clay figurines, including the 26,000-year-old Dolni Vestonice Venus. Around 1,500 B.C, Chinese pottery makers discovered that ceramics coated with simple ash and clay glaze before firing take on a glassy water-resistant surface. Over the centuries potters experimented with different materials, mixtures and temperatures to make ceramics the art it is today.
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Things You'll Need
- Safety glasses
- Respirator mask
- Plastic gloves
- Pound scale
- 2 large plastic buckets
- 40-mesh wire screen
- Flour sifter
- 1 lb. hydrous aluminum silicate potter's clay
- Fireplace ash
- 2 large bowls
Instructions
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1
Don safety glasses, plastic gloves and a respirator mask. Fireplace ash contains caustic alkali that can irritate your eyes, skin and lungs.
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2
Set up your pound scale outside or in a well-ventilated area. Place a bowl on the scale and turn the adjustment knob on the scale to bring the needle back to zero with the bowl on it. This will allow you to get an accurate weight without having to consider the weight of the bowl.
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3
Pour ashes into the flour sifter and sift them into a bucket. This will remove any large debris from the ashes. Pour the ashes through the 40-mesh screen into the other bucket. Flat wire screen is used in pottery to filter wet or powder ingredients. Mesh size shows the number of openings per square inch, so a 40-mesh screen has 40 openings per square inch.
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4
Ladle enough of the screened ash into the bowl to get 1 lb. of ash. Set the bowl of ashes aside and place another bowl onto the scale. Reset the scale to zero if needed to offset the weight of the second bowl.
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Measure 1 lb. of potter's clay into the bowl. The silica in the clay is what gives the fired piece the glassy appearance after firing.
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6
Pour 1 gallon of water into a bucket and add the clay and ash to it. Stir to mix the glaze, and pour the glaze mix through the 40-mesh screen into the other bucket to get it thin enough to brush or spray on your pottery pieces.
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Tips & Warnings
Add chemical coloring agents to the glaze for brightly colored pots. Cobalt carbonate makes blue and copper carbonate makes light-green colored pots.
Always wear protective plastic or vinyl gloves and safety glasses when applying glaze to ceramics. If spraying the glaze on, it is best to wear a respirator mask as well.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit a flame of a fire and ashes image by Ivan Hafizov from Fotolia.com
