POTTERY 101: GLAZE APPLICATION 

I have the same doubt!

Hello! No, I just leave them on the shelves. If they are super dusty I might give them a wash a few days before glazing

Why are we like this

Gotta get a mug warmer - life changing!

Once it’s fired you mean? It can - that’s a question about the porosity of your ware. It’s important that you use your pieces in your own home and understand how the behave. Some low fired clays are still porous after firing and you can get moisture (and unfortunately, bacteria and mould) building up in the ceramic or between the ceramic and glaze. I fire very high to reach vitrification of my pieces - that means that the ceramic itself doesn’t drink up or hold onto any water after it’s fired - so the outside of my pieces are fine. I use my pieces in my home and often investigate to see if there’s any crazing, water absorption, mould etc. Hope that actually explained it(!)

@@MaeCeramics thank you for the explanation! I've got some additional questions: 1. At what temperature do you fire? 2. If pottery is gonna be used not for home use, but for a restaurant, for example, how the glazing process should differ then? 3. Do you rent the studio? Or it's your own space?

@@dmitrykoltsov no worries! 1. I fire to 1280°c. 2. Work for restaurants needs to go through the dishwasher and gets handled much more than domesticware, so it’s important you have achieved vitrification and you keep your rims nice and thick to try and keep chipping to a minimum. 3. I rent my space.

@@MaeCeramics thank you so much! Wish you further success!

Hello! There are a few reasons. 1. I find that it takes longer to apply, dry and sponge waxed pieces than it does to just sponge them. 2. The fumes of the wax burning off in the kiln are also not great to breathe in when the kiln is firing. 3. The burnt off wax can apparently coat kiln elements in a very fine build up of residue, so I want to look after my kiln. I do use wax for decoration occasionally, but avoid it as much as possible.

Thanks! I used a cobalt blue underglaze onto the bisqueware

Hi Jason! I just wanted to show a few different types of application. However, this is how I do cups vs bowls, and the reason for a inside/outside glaze is because there is much less glaze to sponge off the base of the piece when I do it this way. I dunk bowls fully because the footring is way less surface area to remove glaze from. In short, it's faster and less wasteful of glaze.

@@MaeCeramics nice! Makes sense and thanks for the reply!

Keep practicing!

Nope! I find it takes a similar amount of time and I hate the smell of wax in the kiln.