Green and Black

Elaine Bolt, porcelain with green glaze
Elaine Bolt, porcelain with green glaze

My latest firing included porcelain pieces glazed in the new green colours that I’ve been focusing on, along with the dark, almost black clay vessels that I make.

The glaze has a small amount of iron oxide added to give it the green tint. A larger amount of iron is added to the same glaze for the inside, which is a slightly darker, grassier green.

The glaze could possibly be improved by going a little darker with the green. It looks lovely where it pools around the rim but on the smoother body it’s really quite subtle.

The pieces in the images below appear to have very dark interiors, but this is due to the shape of the vessels – the glaze is not as dark as it looks here. I’d like to try going much darker with the glaze for the insides, to add extra contrast to the vessels where the inside is quite open.

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In the same firing were some of my dark matt terracotta vessels which are unglazed. The charcoal/black colour comes from the iron in the clay body reacting to the reduction firing. These pieces contrast really nicely with the green porcelain where they are displayed together.

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I also created some pieces inspired by buoys or floats – the kind that are attached to boats. We often find broken ones washed up on the beach at nearby Newhaven, but the ones I’ve made are open at one end, so they also have a bell-like appearance. I quite like this slight ambiguity in the form. I will attach string or rope through the holes and I may possibly also string them together, if I can make it work.

Elaine Bolt terracotta 'Buoys'

Unfortunately the mottled white glazed one in the picture cracked in the firing. Glazing the terracotta and taking them to 1280c in reduction puts too much strain on this clay. I’ll try this glaze on other clay recipes and mixes to see if I can make something similar work.

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