Ash Glazes

Wood ash is a beautiful ingredient when preparing glazes for pottery. I started experimenting with designing ash glazes in 2016 and I'm happy to have some modern semi matte glazes I use often in my work. 

Next to wood ash glazes, I design my own glazes to make sure all the glazes are food safe.

Ash

As a proud owner of a Jotul wood stove we have quite some ash after a winter of firing oak wood. We buy the wood from local governmental forests (Staatsbosbeheer) in February, dry it for one or two years before firing.

Rice husk

We don't burn any rice husks here in Europe, so therefore we need to imitate the composition of rice husk ash with the available ingredients. After some tests I came close to the likeness of rice husk glaze or "nuka" with the use of oak ash. Now it is one of the main glazes I use for my work. 

Local clay as ingredient

This cup has an ash glaze consisting partly of clay found in Wales when visiting the amazing potter Phil Rogers. As you can see, the glaze has a tendency to run, so the foot is intentionally high and left bare. The slices on the sides of the cup and the texture of the thread are used to guide the dripping glaze into a pattern.