Sometimes....

.... the names of materials
wash over me like they are my whole life.
The first time I fell in love with their mystery,
their transformations in the fire,
was a love affair
with quarried stone....

The first Glaze here
is Nephaline Syenite and Ball Clay and Whiting
with Silicon Carbide added to make it bubble and blister,
1 % Iron for colour,
then fired to 1200 Degrees Centigrade.

The red was Chrome Lead Glaze,
fired on in another firing to 1020 Degrees Centigrade....

you have to have the pot hot
to get this glaze painted on
otherwise it just runs off.

I heard a rumour many years ago that this glaze
was going to be banned by the EEC:
Toxicity, they said,
so I bought lots of it....