The Crystalline Glazes
Crystalline Glazes, with their often-stunning large crystals forming canopies of coloured snowflakes over the glaze surface, have many devotees and collectors. This glaze type, one of the most recent achievements in ceramics, was developed in England at the turn of 20th century, but discarded then because the high fluidity caused difficulties in firing, resulting in very high losses.
The crystals are formed by the interaction of a number of minerals with silica (the glass former) and zinc (the flux). Crystal development occurs during the cooling cycle, with a wide variety of shapes and sizes from the microcrystal, similar to advent urine, to the microcrystal which can be up to 75 mm across. Colour is derived from the addition of various metal oxides – iron oxide, copper oxide, cobalt oxide manganese dioxide.
The crystals are part of the special effects range of Glazers these are very high end in both their beauty and their difficulty in repetition. The variation in crystal formation can be quiet extreme, from a pot almost totally covered in crystals to one with sparse crystals.
EVERY POT IS DIFFERENT
The most extreme variation is in the nickel crystal! This can vary from almost totally covered with blue crystals and very little crystal with the tan background, this is a dramatic difference and you need to be aware of this
So the pot you see in the photographs is exactly the pot that you will receive!
The pots are hand thrown on the potter’s wheel using high quality Australian Clay by renowned Queensland Potter Peter Wallace known for his superb forms and outstanding glazes who has been potting since 1972.
