The Crystalline Series began officially in the winter of 1998, when, after seeing Ginny Conrow’s work, i emptied my studio of all my copper red and metallic black glazes and switched completely to dedicating my palette to crystalline glaze. Trent Gibbs helped me tremendously with a glaze recipe that does not run. You heard that correctly, a crystalline glaze that does not run. Let’s back up a bit. I first encountered crystalline glaze at Edgecomb Potters in Edgecomb Maine in 1990 when i was throwing for Richard Hilton, the owner. I was still in the developing stage of learning how to use glaze, so crystalline was way out of my league at the time. These glazes contain Frit, Silica, Zinc oxide, and a metallic oxide for color. The crystals grow in the glaze during the firing process when the temperature is held stable for up to 6 hours.
This is called a soak. All of these pieces were fired in a gas kiln to cone 11 in oxidation. Special thanks to Diane Creber for her books on crystalline glazes.