About seven years ago I completely fell in love with the process of making ceramics. By then I had lef t behind a career in motion graphics and was pursuing my passion for hand-generated work. At the time this was in the form of painting large canvases with inks, encaustic mediums and f luid acrylics. Bright colours and abstract compositions were huge players in this process, and litt le did I know it would alchemize into glaze work a few years later.

For the f irst couple of years, I kept my glazing extremely simple and focused on learning handbuilding techniques and developing forms. I was working in community studios, using the glazes they offered, and my pieces were at the mercy of the shared kilns. It wasn’t until I took the leap, set up my own studio and bought a large electric kiln that I discovered the world of glaze potential.

I was f inally able to start freely experimenting and developing glaze techniques. Suddenly, the world of ceramics exploded into a rainbow of colour that I hadn’t known existed before. I started obsessively buying glazes, pretty determined to have every shade, and was heavily experimenting with combining glazes in as many different ways as I could conjure.

What struck me was how my previous paintings were inf luencing my glaze compositions. I was drawn to the oil-spotting effect that some glazes could create when combined, which was reminiscent of acrylic-poured canvases. I would then focus my experimentation on learning the chemistry that was involved in creating that result and play with it.

The excitement of opening a kiln full of new glaze experiments has kept me evolving and developing my techniques. I have also set myself a challenge to always use a new combination or application of glaze on each piece, some of which you can see pictured here. Occasionally, I do a set or small series with a favourite

82 May/June 2023