Always begin by marking the back of the tile. Choose your own
system of marking but remember to keep careful records. Once
these blends are fired you are ready to observe, compare and
study each, separately and in relation to each other. Lock for
visual and tactile similarities between blends, then check to see
if they have a common ingredient. After some study you will be-
gin to isolate some materials for they are such strong ingredients
they tend to dominate the surface consistently giving it a
particular quality.

Do not be discouraged by tiles which at this stage are not suit-
able glazes. Remember: Your main purpose at this point is to
obtain a grasp of materials and what they cando. Do as many
of these line blends as you have strength for. Team up with
another potter and share information. After trying some blends
by the educated guess method, set some problems for yourself.
For example, try to select two materials which will result ina
white opaque surface, or a transparent glossy one. Maybe you
would like to try a series using ash and clay. Try blending any
feldspar with ash or any igneous rock with ash.

Study the line blend tests. Once you have achieved a test tile
which appears to be a suitable glaze you must run tests ona
larger more pot-like surface. Most any upright shape will do,
but some forms make it easier to see the inside surface than
others. For this reason you might find a teabowl shape most
suitable. It has a larger surface than the test cookie yet it pro-
vides you with sides so you can check for slipping, and a con-
tainer to catch the glaze should it be too fluid. Throw a number
of teabowls off the hump. Do not spend a lot of time fussing
and trimming - they are only experiments and you will use far
too many to warrant the time to make them perfect.

At first you may want to try three different tests on one bowl,
with each test overlapping, to see the results of two glazes
applied one over the other. Eventually you should use one glaze
per bowl to get the full effect of the surface quality. It is ad-
visable to run a test of this size in two or three different firings
before glazing your full dinner set. Once ina while things
change and not always for the better.

That should keep you busy for a little while. More to come in
the next issue to help you carry on from there.
Jean Marie Weakland