TECHNICAL artist of the Images: courtesy Ash glazes fascinate me. Once burned down, the minerals from the tree are present in the ash. It is as if the entire life of that tree (it could be up to 100 years old) can manifest itself in the glaze. These minerals create prisms that, when layered, f i lter and diffuse the light, emanating myriad colours. In April 2009, while working at the Leach Pottery in St Ives, fellow potter Jacob Bodilly f ired a batch of ash-glazed pots with a rare horse chestnut ash. Instead of coming out dark brown or muddy, as is customary, the work was a superb milky white. The luminescence and elusiveness of these pots inspired me to start my own journey of research into tree ash glazes. Motivated by what I saw coming out of the kiln that day, I discovered that hardwood ashes respond better in colour than softwood ashes. I found that washing the ash well got rid of the excess carbon, enhancing the purity of the glaze prisms. These f indings on ash glazes contradicted the conventional beliefs in Western pottery often found in books or through discussions with other potters. I am passionate about teaching and empowering others on their own journey of discovery with ceramics and I am happy to share a good starting point glaze recipe to encourage readers in their own explorations. Over the past 20 years, I have dedicated myself to marrying form, clay bodies and ancient glazes through a rediscovery process that has involved extensive research, much trial and error and hundreds of reduction f irings. I am often asked: ‘Oh, you have such beautiful glazes – what’s the recipe?’ My own personal glaze recipes, however, are not always the safest reference point for others without a deeper understanding of my process. I take signif icant liberties and embrace risks, sometimes suffering losses as a result. For those interested in experimenting with ash glazes, I hope the starting recipe can serve as a guide while they develop their own approaches. The moon jar shape, with its vast expanse and dynamic form, seemed well-suited to long cascades of glaze made with tree ash. I set about devising ash glaze recipes that would enhance this. I wanted a glaze with a lot of movement, one that could change colour according to how thick ly it was layered. I found that bracken, heather and branches in general were very responsive due to their high calcium content. I knew that in Korea, rice straw ash is regarded as one of the best ashes for this reason but it was not readily available to me. That is when I discovered willow. Willow was wonderful in glazes and every pot exceeded my expectations; sadly, January/February 2025 57