Glaze Test Tiles

Purpose:

• To create four equally formed tiles

• To demonstrate the effects of layering glaze colors

• To develop glazing skills

• To contribute to a test tile wall for current and future ceramics students

Written Response:

Some aspects of a ceramics piece might show an artist’s attention to detail, could be the color, the texture, or the craftsmanship of the piece. Regarding the test tiles that we did in class, the making of the piece itself was very calming but we also needed to make sure that we met the requirements and had to make sure that the texture was different, and well thought out. When it came to the glazing of the tiles, to me that part was the best, even though you needed to be precise with the layering and making sure you had a clean brush it was still fun. Prior to being fired some of the glazes did not look at all like what their name was, for example being moss green, it was a copper color before being fired! That surprised me a lot, I had always thought that they would at least look a little similar, but that theory was proven wrong. When I was layering the glaze in the same color I could barely notice a difference, but then once I started adding the other colors and more layers I noticed it a little more, but I was not expecting it to turn out the way it did once they were fired. I was surprised, but happy with the results, and can’t wait to glaze more ceramic pieces. After making these test tiles I learned that glazes change color after being fired, I learned that when the clay dries and is fired it changes to a white-ish color, one last thing that I learned was that layering the glazes can change the color drastically.