Reduction Firing Explained

Video Description

Red to green, the transition the surface of these pots undergo throughout the reduction firing process is rather remarkable. This particular glaze is coloured by 2% red iron oxide, that’s it, in the bucket this creates a red-pink tone, yet after being put through a reduction firing to cone ten, (1290ºC), this changes to a dark glassy green. The more the iron the glaze contains, the deeper and more intense the green and the more metallic the finer edges become as the glaze peels and ‘breaks’ over them. In some cases, I really quite like the matte finish of the powdery pink glazes that are coated thickly around the pots, yet this appearance never remains. As it fires, this bulky surface of raw materials, think kaolin, feldspar, whiting, nepheline syenite and of course the red iron oxide, flux around the stoneware clay, flowing down it, gathering in thick bands and pooling in crevices, it softens the angular clay-work, adding curves where I had previously trimmed sharp planes. That’s all part of though, turning the work so it’s angular enough that a thick layer of glass doesn’t completely round over the finer details. #pottery #glaze #beforeandafter #craftsmanship #maker #satisfying