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A comprehensive guide to developing unique glaze effects from natural and sustainable sources. Making your own glazes is a fascinating and rewarding process, even more so when making them from collected ingredients. With little equipment and following a few basic principles, it is possible to harvest glaze ingredients from your local environment, such as clay, subsoil, plants and seashells, to achieve beautiful results in the kiln. Whether you wish to make an entire glaze using collected materials, or just want to use them as additions to existing base recipes, Miranda Forrest teaches you how to source and prepare natural ingredients, from degraded rocks to seaweed, and gives you step-by-step instructions for mixing a glaze, testing samples and finally applying glazes and firing your work. Contributions from contemporary ceramicists who use natural glaze ingredients give you a detailed insight into their working methods and intriguing results.Encouraging experimentation and a creative approach, Natural Glazes is a vital resource for anyone wishing to work in a more natural and sustainable way to develop unique glaze effects.>
List of contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. What is a ceramic glaze?
2. Recognising natural glaze materials
3. Preparation of materials
4. Glazes derived from rocks
5. Glazes derived from plants and animals
6. Making your glaze
7. Glaze application and firing
8. Found clay bodies
9. Raku
10. Artists who work with natural materials
11. Gallery
12. Health and safety
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Miranda Forrest is a working ceramicist and graduate of the BA Honours degree at the Glasgow School of Art. Based on the beautiful and remote Outer Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland, she develops her glazes from locally collected ingredients and the surrounding environment inspires her work.
