So my new gallon of clear glaze arrived completely deflocculated--this means the glaze particles (mostly clay) won't stay in suspension. When I began glazing the clear dripped everywhere and the mugs absornbed too much water--so when I fired them the interior glaze (mostly the red) crawled. To remedy this, I added a bit of epsom salt solution to change the ionization. You only add a really small amount, and perhaps I added too much because the glaze then went on a little too thickly, and some of the remaining mugs fired cloudy which sort of obscures the design. So I will be refiring about 1/2 of this kiln. But since I have been collecting mugs that need refiring for several months, I now have a full kiln. I have a lot of work this week so hopefully I can get to this in a couple weeks.
But the mugs that did not succumb to glaze disaster look great. And I have more spoonbills, octopus and loons. Unfortunately the blue octopus and the wolf and the raven all need refiring.
In this photo you can see chickadees with a white interior I made for an order. I was a little sceptical that there would be too much white, but they actually look pretty good.
And the flowers are from my garden--gladiolas and zinnias--a perfect combination