Glaze Formulation

I tell myself each time I start to formulate that there has to be someone out there that hits the right glaze on the first try.  And today that person might be me!  Coming up with glazes isn’t for the faint of heart. Its seriously one of the most frustrating and then hopefully rewarding parts of being a potter. You have to be ok with failing.

I have failed a lot. Though, all you need is one success to wipe away all those failures and make it really feel like you can do this “thing”.

I can do this thing.
I told myself this over and over again while making the majolica glaze I’m currently using.

Did I have enough boron in that formula?
Too much tin oxide? Do I even need that?
Was it the wrong Frit?
Maybe if I fired at a different cone?

I have a stack of old bits of failed glazes just hanging out waiting to be dumped. Really I’m done testing with them so they can go away and never come back thankyouverymuch. I have my glaze.

Its final test before a full size piece test was this:

But before it was that it was this:

and this:

and worst of all, this:

I now have my formula for majolica that is based on but not exactly the same as some of the glaze recipes I found online. They’re a great place to start. I also now fire to a cone higher than I expected to but am pleased at how the pottery and glaze work at that temp.  I learned a few things that I’m sure I’ll forget the next time I formulate but it’s all fun right? It is once you get past the frustration anyway.