Stop Glazing Your Pottery
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 มิ.ย. 2024
- Glaze is wonderful stuff but it's not the only way to finish pottery and a lot of people unfortunately think it is. Let's talk about just how food safe glazed and unglazed pottery can be and what glaze alternatives exist. There are many good reasons to not glaze your pottery and one of those is the texture and beauty of the raw clay surface with gets lost under gobs of chemical glaze.
🔗 LINKS
Sealing earthenware - • The Best Way To Seal E...
Liquid Quartz - • Sealing Earthenware Po...
Common sense - digitalfire.com/article/crazi...
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Organic paint - • Nuts & Bolts of Oxidiz...
Mineral paint - • How To Make Clay Slip ...
Making and using colorful clay slips - • How To Make Clay Slip ...
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0:00 Why I hate glaze
0:30 History of unglazed pottery
1:35 Is unglazed pottery food safe?
2:34 Is glazed pottery food safe?
2:57 Common sense for pottery that is not "food safe"
3:41 Why not glaze pottery?
5:27 Some glaze alternatives
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Everybody wants to defend glaze from what they perceive as an attack. I am not attacking glaze and glaze does not need defending. Unglazed pottery needs defending because it is always getting put down and treated like it is somehow less than glazed. TH-cam is full of videos extolling the virtues of glaze, this little video is just a small voice calling out in the wilderness, asking you to give unglazed a try.
My class teaches natural pottery paints, slips and other glaze alternatives bit.ly/3SGmiWA
I think its the title of the video more than anything and the psychology of language. Great attention grabber but it drawing in some extra, less positive, attention. That being said a video titled "What I like about unglazed pottery" does not really have any draw to it. I like both glazed and unglazed pottery myself. The flexibility of the application depending on your artistic goals or use case for the clay is just so massive and getting more information on more techniques is a positive at the end of the day no matter what so I thank you for that.
@@TheWeaponshold well you know how it is. You can please some of the people some of the time but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.
@Andy Ward's Ancient Pottery people are such babies. They don't know how to take other opinions with a grain of salt. They don't seem to understand the point of persuasion either. I learned that if I want to make my own pottery, I'd rather use the natural, pretty slip instead of a glaze.
I’m with ya man! The closer we can get to the natural order of things the better. This world is so darned beautiful! We enjoy it best, thrive within it best when are intimately entwined with it. We need to stop trying to cover it up with plastics or other unnatural compounds.
@@AncientPottery Your advocacy for unglazed terra cotta pottery use to store food and liquids for human consumption is dangerous. I am reporting you to TH-cam and ask that you be deplatformed for your Medically proven dangerous advocacy for not glazing pottery used for human consumption.
As an Algerian (North African/ Mediterranean) i totally confirm we do use traditional ceramics made with hands and unglazed, most of it is done with red clay. Altho some really sophisticated ceramics is sold, i still find it super interesting to understand how it was done before. Natural Ceramics have aged since antiquity so if it can be a better alternative for health and environment I'm totally down for it 🙏🏻
Also huge thanks to you Andy for teaching us so much things, I'll forever be thankful!!
I mean everything is chemicals, and pottery is all about chemical reactions under high heat. There certainly could be harmful stuff in the dirt. However in the grand scheme of things that are likely to kill you it’s probably very low, but its not like there isnt no risk.
Yeah everything is made of chemicals. I am referring to unnatural, laboratory made materials, as opposed to all natural materials.
Everything is chemical reactions by your definition, digestion of food, plant growth, etc. But you're ignoring the context "natural vs chemical". While you may be a bundle of chemical reactions, I don't expect you're drinking gasoline because "hey, everything's chemical".
I've been looking at glazes recently and a common theme is "non-toxic when properly fired". That means toxic unless properly fired, not something you find with most clays.
@@ob_arts9360 that isn't because of a "chemical" that is in the glaze, it's because colorants in glazes are metal oxides, take for example copper oxides, it makes a huge variety of colors and if consumed in its raw state can be poisonous, that is why you must fire it properly to the proper cone so that the glaze (or glass) fully encapsulates it and it becomes safe.
By the way yes constituents of clay are absolutely poisonous in sufficient quantities, alumina is poisonous. Hell, water can kill you if you drink too much, hyper hydration or water intoxication
@@jseal21 it isn't just the colorants. Glazes can also include things such as lithium carbonate, barium carbonate or boron, as well as other things you don't want to be snacking on constantly.
From what I've been reading, a glaze is a chemical reaction. How does a chemical reaction take place without chemicals? Is this a matter of definitions?
There is zero risk
I would like to add a few comments:
1. Some of the earliest examples of glazed pottery come from the bronze age Shang Dynasty in China.
2. Although many modern glazes are actually made from synthetic chemicals, the earliest pottery glazes were instead made from wood ash, slaked lime and/or feldspar mixed with a clay slip.
3. Although the standard modern practice for glazing is to "bisque" the pottery first and then fire the pottery again after glazing; originally, glazed pottery would've been glazed while the pot was still green and fired only once. This method fell out of favor once pottery became a large industry since greenware is harder to carry long-distances without damaging it than low fired pottery. A lot of studio potters now have no idea that they can save time and enery by glazing their pottery in the greenware stage since they don't have to worry about shipping the pottery to a separate facility to be glazed.
4. From what few videos I've seen on sealing and washing earthenware, this cooking material doesn't appear any harder to care for than cast iron since both cooking materials require washing without soap and have active surfaces that can be affected by food cooked in or eaten on the pot.
5. Other than for decorative purposes, the only reason I can think of using a glaze on pottery is if you insist on using soap to wash your pottery. Even then, the soap can still soak into the bottom "dry-footed" area on the bottom of the glazed pot and cause further problems in the future.
Thanks.My point wasn’t to show when the earliest glazes began to be used but to show that most people ate on unglazed until rather recently in human history.
Cast iron is not porous and can be washed with soap and water. This is a common misunderstanding of the properties of cast iron. What people refer to as "pores" in cast iron are actually microscopic irregularities in the surface of the metal, but virtually all metals have these to varying degrees, it's not a unique feature of cast iron (note that pretty much any piece of metal cookware that doesn't already have a surface treatment can be "seasoned" like cast iron - it's not actually a "seasoning" but layers of polymerized fat on the surface of the metal). Cast iron does not "absorb" water unlike what many popular media sources describe: what does exist are microscopic surface imperfections from the casting or forging or stamping process and does not go through the entire body of the metal.
Just speaking as someone who prefers glazed ceramics over natural ceramics, it's mostly, for me anyway, a textural thing.
I do own unglazed ceramics, I use them aswell, mostly for cooking, since I like cooking out doors when weather permits, and ceramic pots feel much more suited to cooking over a fire than my stainless steal ones.
But when I want a cup of tea or coffee, I opt for glazed mugs or China, simply because they feel more similar to my glass and metal drinking vessels than the unglazed ones I own, and I'd much rather sip on something that dosent make my brain confused about why my cup it rough, before remembering its unglazed. Usually because the drink isn't what I'm sitting down to do, it's just what I'm drinking while watching TV, making something, playing a game, or reading. Though I do love unglazed ceramics for all sorts of other things.
@@justynh1321 Unglazed porcelain has a very fine texture and is really pleasant to handle. Some of it turns almost glassy, depending on the clay mixture. If you can make or find it, I really recommend it, because it's a really nice material for drinking hot beverages, even unglazed
Thanks for that info, I was wondering if glaze could be applied to greenware.
honestly i like the mix of both, like the japanese craftmen like to play with, showing both the raw aspect of material and the joys of some glazed touches. Best of worlds
This is my fav pottery and is in a different ballpark...it is art...vs pottery where usually a single glaze is the focus...often quite boring honestly.
always loved Korean and Japanese pottery...they used glazes for artistic expression. The ancient Jomon pottery was unglazed and had it's own artistic value, then the Koreans moved into Japan, and somewhere down the line someone started a glaze-craze, the pottery itself was less expressive and the glaze took the spotlight. Totally agree with the natural connection to unglazed pottery. I have no problems eating out of my unglazed dishes, never got sick.
Awesome, thanks for the history. The early southwestern glazes were decorative too.
Your channel became a part of my life around a month ago.
This new creative elemental sharing has brought a deeper caring for all the goodness that lays around us.
Thank you for being a wonderful teacher!
Thanks, I am glad to be able to teach here.
@thialove , 100% agree
Your love for pottery is so palpable. I’m glad I found this channel.
I’m glad you found me, thanks!
As an absolute beginner to pottery, your channel is a godsend! It's absolutely wonderful to have this much concentrated information that also focuses on the natural aspects of clay and pottery. Thank you so much.
Glaze isn't bad its just another approach. the chemicals in most glaze aren't anymore synthetic than the clay itself. I do appreciate the way you are modernizing and investigating some ancient techniques
yeah the "chemicals" argument kind of bothered me. It's ALL chemicals; the entire universe is chemicals. That said, he probably meant synthetic, but that's not even particularly true- 99 percent of the ingredients that go into my glazes are literally just powdered minerals(including clay), pulled out of the ground and crushed to a particular sieve mesh size then thrown in a brown paper sack and shipped off. I personally am a big fan of incorporating local materials and clays into my work when available, and you can always formulate a glazer from locally sourced mineral materials and clays if you were so inclined. Also while the points made in the video are all basically valid, in today's highly litigious climate (at least in the US), I'd rather idiot-proof my wares with a properly fitted liner glaze. For my own use would be another story, granted I knew the proper care and maintenance for whatever vessel I were using. I suspect however that a lot of pottery customers are less willing to maintain a wax sealed mug for example, and would rather have something microwave and dishwasher safe. Just my two cents on the topic!
We've been lied to on a great many levels.
Getting into frequency, vibrations, various other points that go beyond common knowledge nowdays, that subjugated people readily dismiss....there are huge differences between natural vs synthetic chemicals... as well as on whom you allow define terms.
It is also why those that embrace the truth of any matter live healthier lives and beat the unlearned and/or unwilling 1 to 1000, 2 to 10000, anyday ending in y.
The few that remain mocked and labled various adjectives, yet remain free from the troubles of the rest of the world... makes it all worth the ridicule or being called foolish.
Like the matrix, we free those ready and willing.
Mourn for those that refuse and continue with lies in order to use and control them.
Its like turning on a bright light in a dark room they've been in for extended periods of time. They turn away, cover up, and want the light off.
Those that endure, begin their day, and eventually see clearly.
Sweet freedom. Sweet truth.
Foolishness of the world is Wisdom to Elohim. Wisdom of the world is foolishness to Elohim.
HalleluYah HalleliYah all my being.
All esteem to the Most High Elohim יהוה for it is His esteem to conceal a matter and the honor of sovereigns to seek it out!
You have made everything brilliantly clear in just one video. Thank you so much
You're very welcome!
Thank you, I didn’t know there were alternatives to using glazes. I’ll keep these in mind when I’m looking at new pottery!
I love me a good rant by a passionate professional.
LOL, thanks
Glad I found your channel. You answered so many of my questions. You inspired me to try pottery again.
Awesome! Thank you!
I guess one of the easiest ways to deal with some issues is to season the thing in a manner similarly done with wrought iron? Put something that will caramelize or cook onto it, and half burn it at its smoke point. (Generally it's one of the oldest ways of putting a polymer layer on a surface.)
Definitely and I have a video showing just that.
I love your channel!❤❤❤😊
I did 2 years of ceramics in art school and I've been wanting to get back into it. Ive always loved working with clay. But overwhelmed with having to join a studio to do ceramics, or getting a ton of tools to fire and make pottery. But its refreshing to see what you can by choosing to do pottery more primitively.
Its refreshing to realize, I dont need those things I can literally just start doing it by aquiring simple tools.
It's alot more labour but I'll really respect and enjoy the whole process. Your videos are so helpful, I'm glad I watched them before buying a bunch of stuff I don't nessarary need.
I am glad my videos have been helpful. Thanks for watching.
Wonderful. I love what you're saying - and also how you say it. Really appreciated.
Thank you
I am so glad I found your channel!!!! Finally! All the topics which I am obsessing about but so far found little information on out there until now!
I really really appreciated this video. Thank you Andy!
Thanks 🙏
Thank you for this great info. All the pottery classes I've taken were with glazing, so this video has given me desire to start working clay without worrying where to find a high fire kiln for the glaze step ( that was a big overwhelm for me). I really appreciate your pottery channel Mr Ward!
Thanks, glad to help.
I love how much you love ceramics. I’m new to this world, but your videos are really encouraging to keep practicing this amazing art
Thank you
Thank you for presenting alternatives and educating on other cultures and older processes. I love your videos, thank you very much
Glad you like them!
Love the videos, very informative and very well put together.
Much appreciated!
Your content is great. I love this hobby. Thanks for all the great info.
Glad you enjoy it!
Thank you for the info! I took pottery in high school and the teacher told us not to eat or drink out of it even after we glaze it. Just in case some spots weren’t sealed in. I’m not going to drink from it anyway, but I’m glad I can actually eat and drink from them without the glaze
I really enjoy your channel and all the rich information you bring. I agree about not wanting to cover up the natural look and feel of unglazed pottery. I willuse some of these sealing techniques on my work.
Thank you so much!
Thank you for this!
My pleasure!
im from chile and we use unglassed small pots to cook traditional dishes so i can confirm its safe to eat in them just heat everything well for an example just search pastel de choclo (corn cake)
Thanks for sharing that. I have learned so much from viewers all over the world who use unglazed pottery.
Mi mamá es chilena pero vivimos en Argentina. Ella hace el pastel como lo preparan aquí, que es con papa en vez de choclo. Coincido contigo en que los recipientes de barro le dan su saborcito especial. En otro material no sabe igual.
Lovely channel great energy and enthusiasm is put into this videos
Thanks, I try.
Outstanding! Many thanx.
You are welcome!
You really do inspire me
love your videos. i'm itching to start pottery now LOL
Go for it!
In Brazil we cook in unglazed ceramic pans. We seal it with oil and high temperature. Unglazed cookware is not in most households but it's know to be healthy and the outcome is considered more tasty.
That's awesome, I hope to be able to visit Brazil someday.
I'm from Brasil as well, and I would comment just that, many of our most iconic dishes are prepared on unglazed clay pots (we call them panela de barro), if you are interested, Andy, you can search for images of dishes like feijoada, barreado and moqueca, you'll see a lot of them prepared on ceramic pots!
I found your channel a few days ago and I'm loving the content! Keep up with the good work!
Um abraço!
I Morocco it's the same. The best pots are treated in wood fires and always with olive oil. Tasty.
As a kid we didnt have much pottery so i never thought much about it, Now that im in my 20s and have ran across your channel im so impressed, the things you can do with clay, fire, and paint is so cool, I think its funny how in this modern
And technology forward time some of the most impressive stuff to me is ancient techniques. Keep up the good work it is 100% badass
Thanks! Good things never go out of style.
@@AncientPottery So true, lotta people in my generation cant understand that but some of us do🤘🤘
Good one. Thanks yet again.
Very welcome
Wow, how insightful- I really thought pottery has to be glazed to be easier to use and cleaned… and I thought the beautiful pottery in the backround was glazed..😅very fascinating and beautiful!!!
Thanks glad to help
Awesome vid I very much plan to get into ancient poetry making as a hobby. Your videos make that entry into said field much easier. thank you, keep up the good work.
Dobeledo? I adore hearing new words. And I learned a lot about glaze too. Wonderful video. Thank you for sharing.
The dooblidoo is the description area beneath the video. Thanks!
Hi Andy, you really helped put things into perspective. I have searched with no success for low-fire glazes that could be used with primitive firing techniques, I will definitely reconsider natural pigments and have more confidence cooking in sealed earthenware after this truly insightful post
Thanks Rusty.
Thank you. So appropriate.
Thanks so much for this. I really wanted to create my own kitchenware with my local clay, but glaze was the kink in my plan.
Very nice I love it!
Hi,
I am from India. The festival called Deepavli/Diwali (Deep= lamps, avli=rows) is coming in a few days. Earlier everyone used clay lamps to decorate the houses on this occasion, but now we use LEDs as a substitute for that. It's been like that since decades.
Fortunately people are now encouraging to use the clay lamps again for this festival. Hoping that this Diwali we would see more earthenware than plastic.
I didn't know about that festival, thanks for the info.
Love you man
Right back at you!
Oh my! Best Video ever!
I like the wide variety of colors and patterns in modern glazes, but also the warm, natural look of earthenware pottery. I'd like to try making pots or dishes that have designs painted in glaze only in some areas while leaving other areas unglazed. I think the contrast would look nice.
You are so right, Andy. Glaze contains lead although nowadays you can find lead-free glaze on the market.
Andy, I always get lots of ideas to try with my wild clay low fired pottery from your videos. I am still learning how to seal it. I really enjoy your perspective on taking the time to understand and appreciate the basic and simple ways of creating pottery.
This video came at a really good time because yesterday I wanted to ask why you didn't glaze!
Mind reading.
While visiting Morocco had an opportunity to cook n eat from unglazed tajine/tagine earthenware pots.
Thank you for sharing this info. Im thinking about getting into pottery, but kiln, price of one, set up, deadly fumes 🤣 n cost of using it have me on hold. For the moment Im using basic air dry clay from my local art n craft to try it out, but after bumping randomly to your channel Im more interested into these ancient pottery techniques. Looks like great alternative to kiln n glaze.
Sounds great!
i am just getting into pottery and i have found your channel to be absolutely awesome , i live on a farm in Australia where there is lots of wild clay , i am hoping that i can use it to make some simple pottery. thank you very much for your wise words and ideas.
Awesome, I hope that my videos can be helpful
Jamie, I'm in Oz too and have been using clay from my dam for 30 years. Being terracotta it has a low fire range and I prefer textural surface decoration I then sawdust (or 'bushfire' with dried organic material), for surprising blackened results. I started with a wood-fired kiln made from 200 bricks.
@@daisythompson570 hi, i built a gas fired raku type kiln and i temper the clay with sand , it fires well and has a beautiful warm terracotta colour to it. its great being able to make use of the free clay and i have made some nice pieces with it. have fun :)
We're a special group, we potters, especially in today's world. Happy potting.
I've come to love these unglazed pots after spending time on your channel. I love that it doesn't look like something mass-produced/store bought. Many popular pottery channels make things that look like I would buy them, not unique. I love that your work and others that I've seen look like people made them. Glazes and molds seem to remove that factor I find so appealing.
Also, I've seen some of those comments about using the word "natural", give "nature-sourced" a try. They'll probably find something wrong with that, too, but I know that's what you mean when you say it. You didn't source it from a commercial provider, but from God's good earth itself. 😊
Many years ago i heard storing food in plastic caused many cancers. Alternative food wraps include cloth treated with wax and coconut oil, unbleached paper bags, parchment paper and, for cheeses, aluminium foil prevents many moulds from growing.
Interesting!
here is like a museum about ceramics. This makes me very excited.
Cool, thanks
Very informative! I have been doing some pieces that I just can’t figure out how to glaze without it sticking to the kiln shelf. Do you think you’ll ever do another video on how you seal the glaze with the alternatives you listed? (like the bees wax, starch, milk, etc)
I would assume it is pretty straight forward, but tips and tricks on how it is done would be lovely!
Very nice video. I really like when someone breaks out of those 'rules'. When I started making pots (it's just a hobby for me) I also wanted to use the most colorful glazes. Over the years I moved more and more to earthy colors. I try to only partly glaze because I like the contrast and when there's a surface where you can still see and feel the raw clay. Burnishing looks very nice but I'm a little too lazy for that most of the time. I think red, brown and black clays look really good on their own. I stopped using white clay at all. I tried single glaze firing a few times. I'd like to do that more often. It's true firing twice is a lot of work and energy. I do fire rather low because of energy cost. There seems to be a bit of an obsession with firing to cone 10. I'm not even reaching cone 6. I drink tea from my pots everyday and they have a crackled clear glaze on the inside. I doubt the food safety thing is as bad as some people say. I agree that people replace thinking with more and more rules. Instead of knowing how to use what we want to have a simple rule for everything that's always safe. By the way just last week I looked at roman and Greek pottery in southern Italy. Quite amazing.
Refreshing.
There is something very special when we go back to basics.
Nature is perfectly imperfect making its own beauty that is unmatched. Learning to create using natural resources be it pottery or baskets weaved from willows or learning how to gather our food in the most basic and primitive way is amazing.
I believe Andy's intention is to teach those who are interested how they can achieve what our native ancestors achieved using simple and basic ingredients that are provided to all people freely, we just need to know where to look, what to look for and how to apply it.
I believe I am not alone when I say, thank you Andy for all your shared information and creativity.
Thanks Debbie, there is peace and happiness to be found by separating yourself from the industrialized world.
@@AncientPottery A very true statement. I am awed by what our ancestors achieved and how they not only survived but thrived - until 'progress' got in the way.
As the majority of human population revealed clearly during Covid, most ran out to gather TP rather than seeds which could sustain them...
Modern conveniences are nice but don't guarantee survival. Before I digress, thank you again -
Good video .thanks for the info on all your subjects....on clay n pottery
This is slowly becoming a lost art .
I've been reading and watching a lot of vids about ceramics lately, haven't tried anything yet but wanted to know and understand the processes first. As a newbie I was surprised about learning earthenware not being food safe, never heard that before (again im just new in this subject) but I'm from Chile and i live near a small town famous for its pottery where 90% of it is just unglazed. And I don't know anybody that doesn't own and use a piece of Pomaire's pottery. I do own a pot, a jar, several bowls and even a set of wine cups made of unglazed clay. Usually the sellers tell you to boil milk on them to seal them
I totally agree with you.
people associate all "chemicals" as bad for some reason, and its just as bad as how people think unglazed pottery is bad.
you can easily get glazes from the earth, and use those. many high temperature glazes are simple minerals found in the earth, and are completely safe to eat out of once fired.
properly glazed ceramics can also effectively store food as long as its dry, or properly sealed. and since glaze has many beautiful colors that you can't easily get with natural clay, you can make much more colorful earthenware using it, besides, the materials for the glaze also come from the earth, they are simply purified first, similarly to how you refine your clay before making pottery out of it.
2:05 the inherent danger of bacteria it's not the bacteria itself, but the waste products, i.e. the poop is the poison, and no amount of cooking is going to fix that.
That basically means that you can't store food in a container for more than a hour unless it's been boiled clean.
On the other hand, for this reason, unglazed makes fast, great tasting beer and fermented milk products.
The small amount off material in the walls of a pot is not the danger the bacteria harbored there that get in your food is.
This is the exact question after watching your olla video. I was wondering about molds and their toxins tho.
Wonderful, yes!
Natural resins and beeswaxes and even blends of the two can impart some nice flavors into liquids and foods you store in them. Georgians line Qvevris with beeswax and Greeks with resins. I’ve tried a few different blends and people tend to prefer drinks I ferment in my beeswax and resin clay vessels.
Inglish version: I'm Brazilian, and I was very happy to have come to me this amazing video! Because I study and work with ceramics and have never met anyone who said that it was possible to create utilities from non-enamelled ceramics. But I was always in doubt, because I always knew that in the past (and even today) pure clay is used for cooking, eating or drinking. I feel that this was a sign, and I intend to learn and bring unenameled pottery, such a beautiful and wholesome art back to the modern world!
Eu sou brasileira, e eu fiquei muito feliz de ter chegado até mim este vídeo incrível! Pois estudo e trabalho com cerâmica e nunca encontrei alguém que dissesse que era possível criar utilitários de cerâmica não esmaltada. mas sempre fiquei na duvida, porque sempre soube que antigamente (e até hoje) é usado o barro puro para se cozinhar, comer ou beber. Sinto que isso foi um sinal, e eu pretendo aprender e trazer a cerâmica não esmaltada, uma arte tão bonita e saldável de volta ao mundo moderno!
Thank you so much for watching, I am glad this video was helpful to you
I love my Suffolk Henry Watson cookware and mugs best of both worlds unglazed on the outside but glazed in the inside.
I'm v3ggAs ancient pottery from Uganda learnt a lot from this channel I appreciate
Awesome thanks
I want to try that special clay that binds the organic paint, but I don't know where to order some from.
While I appreciate the sentiment, and many pots don't need glaze to be beautiful, or useful, I think you might need to reevaluate the idea that glaze is something different than your clay. I make glaze, and it's literally all the same components as clay bodies. The chemicals used to mix glaze are mostly single mined ingredients, like feldspar and kaolin, just mined from all over the world and combined to make make commercial glaze and clay. The chemicals that are precipitated out or purified , like whiting( taken from limestone and purified into calcium carbonate aka whiting) are just slightly more pure than straight mined ingredients. Whiting is used in medications like tums. Frit is just glass, that has been fired and reground to be more stable to make lower firings glazes more feasible. Colorants can be toxic, but you use those in the same way when you make slips, and exist in your clay body from wilds clays. Yes, mason stains exist, they are mostly colorants with frit. It's important to note that nearly all chemicals components found in glaze are also found in clay, even clay you mine yourself.
And for a little historical background, in other parts of the world, glaze has existed as long as wood firing has, particularly China, Japan and Korea. Yes they also use unglazed wares, but glazed wares and proto-celadon glazes can be found as far back as 221 B.C.E, particularly in what is now China, and these pots were used alongside their unglazed wares for generations. Those glazes were often the clay body with wood ashes added to increase the melt and create a shiny surface.
I'm not trying to say that pottery needs glaze, but I am saying that historically, glazed wares were common in many parts of the world where more high fire clays were common right out of the ground. Also I spend so much of my time combating the misinformation that glaze is dangerous chemicals that we otherwise wouldn't interact with. All clay contains silica, mined or manufactured, which is what makes it dangerous to breathe in when in a dry powdered form. Clay and colorants self mined or commercially mined are chemically the same.
I did not say glaze was dangerous chemicals, I just said that it was made from chemical ingredients.
I did not cover East Asian history here for a reason, the point was that most people on earth up until rather recently ate on unglazed ceramics. Yes I know they had glaze much earlier in the east.
At no point did I say that glaze was dangerous, there is no reason to defend glaze. I said it can also be not food safe, I said it was made of chemicals and I said it covered up the natural clay.
@@AncientPottery That's fair, and I'm not debating the history of unglazed ceramics, just the assertion the glaze is some unfamiliar chemical ingredient. It's the same base material as your clay body, which you do imply with the "gobs of chemical glazes" comment around 4:18 in your video.
I have no argument that it covers up the natural clay, it absoutely does, and plain clay surfaces are gorgeous too. Glaze is just also a combination of natural materials.
@@NowWhatPotteryWorks definitely agree. I could have been more clear. Thanks
Any thoughts on fermentation in pottery? All the common stoneware crocks are glazed, but could one use sealed pottery instead?
I'm currently researching the subject, and I see by the comments here that it has to be done, and shared !
Andy, you are opening a very interesting topic, one that is commonly overlooked. Thank you for your involvement.
What about the high temperatures we need to get to if we want simple ash or salt glazes ? it is not accessible to most.
What about the toxicity of the common fluxes for low firings ? Let's talk about lead (ahem), borax (banned from the EU for non-professional use), or soda (not durable at low temp).
What about the unethically or dangerous to the environnement the processing is to get some minerals used in glazes ?
I would say, if someone wants to keep it simple, he has to say goodbye to glaze, and welcome to sealing pottery.
If we want to play close to nature, we have to be honest and look deeper at the impact we have practicing.
There is a place for both glaze and unglazed, I just wish we'd be more conscious about the possibilities. Let's learn the new common sense !
I understand this is an old video, and might not get a reply, but I'm planning on trying to make an amphora for my mead. What is the best way of sealing it without glazing ,so I can store the mead long term? Since it's the inside that needs sealed, I assume something liquid? Could I use hot beeswax maybe? Any pointer are welcome ,thank you!
Hello sir! I have a question, do you think I should use resin or varnish instead of glaze??
Brazilian clay filter is unglazed. It's the tipical appearance of the filter and it's what makes the water cold (by evaporation through the clay porus).
I made some porcelain plugs to use in my Moka Pot, to reduce the amount of ground coffee that will fit in it, and still build good pressure. Will boiling hot coffee have any bad effects on unglazed porcelain, or the unglazed porcelain have any bad effects on the coffee?
What is your opinion on salt glazing? Adding salt to the kiln?
U r 100% right on this Andy! When i first started studying pottery and learning about wild clay and how it is still used in many parts of the world i began questioning why here in the usa the narrative of it being unsafe qithout being glazed is pushed. Wild clay is perfectly safe, but commerical clay is a different story. Commercial clay has all kinds of synthetic made chemicals in it that is very toxic not only to eat from but to even breathe in. The ancients had ot right in my thoughts and cooking in the clay pots is not only safe, but provide vitamins and minerals we need to be healthy that has been taken away from us and replaced with toxic metal pots.lined with the nonstick coating made from petroleum based chemicals with tons of fluoride in it. Talk about not being food safe, but people dont give that one thought!
Thanks Michelle.
Just wondering if you have a podcast so I can listen while I work.
Unfortunately no
I absolutely love the results of salt glazing. There are problems in the process though as when salt glazing the pottery, the kiln gets salt glazed too. That made me wonder if salt glazing could be done in small batches in a homemade kiln like the one you made. I haven't seen anyone try it, and perhaps there is good reason. I think glazing makes the pottery more durable. I prefer pottery without painted decorations. Plain and monochrome. But oh, a natural salt glaze is so lovely.
I don't know much about salt glaze. But have you seen this video th-cam.com/video/T43SPssR1VI/w-d-xo.html Maybe something like this could be made to work all over.
Many nice surface effects require reducing atmosphere.
I love the effect ancient roman terra nigra (for which I can make local clay as it was produced here) but it requires a reducing atmosphere.
Is there a way to safely achieve this glossy black look with an electric kiln? Or if not, with a simple garden firing? I have a small city garden which makes experimenting difficult.
Intéressant, toutefois un émail haute température offre des qualités sanitaires de nettoyage plus efficace et la nourriture n'accroche pas.
De plus les pièces de cuisson basse température non émaillées ou émaillée restent poreuses.
J'avais acheté un plat en majolique à un céramiste et le contenu des aliments transpirait sur la table en bois, et un vase aussi transpirait sur le meuble. Les hautes températures offrent bien des avantages selon nos usages contemporains.
I think this is a great video as many beginners automatically think you must use glaze, even on non food or even art pieces. I could not agree more...personally I prefer the natural look and use slips and oxides.
Here in Brazil we have an water filter that is made out of unglazed pottery, it has such a good, fresh taste, I can't explain it.
That's great
Oui c'est normal que le filtre à eau ne soit pas émaillé, c'est le principe même du filtre en terre cuite puisqu'elle est poreuse et absorbe les impuretés.
Очень интересная тема
Я использую полировку -> молоко + 350° -> льняное масло + воск
Льняное масло высыхает и образует полимерное покрытие
Another interesting video👍🏻 I know it's not my place to request a type of video, however is there a possibility in the future for you to do a video on pottery confidence please? My ceramic self esteem is at an all time low.
LOL “pottery confidence” I will have to think about how to approach that subject. But I can definitely relate. Thanks.
@@AncientPottery I know for me it is the case of 1. Always feeling that my work has to have the clean finish that others have and 2. It's not worth making or firing anything if its not good enough to be sold, as that is my vision of excellence (rightly or wrongly)
Thank you Andy!! You're teaching me everything.
My pleasure!
Cool video! I really like your take, I think that it is important to utilize the natural beauty found directly in nature. Plus im sure this is cheaper, more accessible and better for our health and the planets! Afterall, im not sure glazed ceramics can be reused as easily as unglazed ones.
The people who live and know how to use these unglazed pots also often die of dysentery. 🤷♂ Most of the masses of unglazed earthenware we find basically everywhere as historic artefacts were the 'cheap' versions of pottery, either the mass produced ones to fill with olive oil and traded away never to be seen again by whoever produced them, or the ones made by people who could not really afford glazing or had a purpose that did not require it. Also glazes are often made with just as much natural elements as the pottery itself. For example wood ash glaze, made from the ash from the previous pottery firing. Doesn't get more natural then that. Its chemicals, but its 100% artisanal.
Dysentery is not spread by unglazed cookware.
I bought some years ago pottery in supermarket.
How can I know if the glaze is safe or not? You mentioned that it can have lead?!
How can I remove the glaze?
I was wondering what a "slip" was. I never would have thought of that! Just make clay with certain color minerals or whatnot added to it and paint it on top the base clay.
Easy way to make colorful pottery from drab clay.
Thank you Andy, that was informative, fun and interesting as usual :-) I personally think that all the talk about 'food safe' is a bit of a hype. If people use common sense they know that you have to clean porous materials that you eat from, weather it is a wooden cutting board or a earth ware bowl. Hot water, soap and store it dry work fine. As an historical re enactor I have been eating out of and cooking meals in unglazed fired kitchenware for 20 years now, and so have all the other people at the same events, and never saw any problems with it. I find all the new modern plastics way scarier, especially when heated. You don't know if in the future that plastic stuff all at once shows to be toxic after all. I really like my own unglazed pots, but I also like some store bought glazed things, it is just not the same thing to me. Looking forward to you next video!
I prefer glazed, i like how they look and i prefer how they feel.
When pottery feels rough it makes me feel uneasy like a chalkboard.
To each his own
Are there a specific rules to washing unglazed pottery?
Que bonito mensaje 👍🏻✨
What numbers are on the bottom of those bowls?
What do you think of La Chamba pottery? they have like a natural glaze made out of clay
La Chamba pottery is not glazed. It is semi-porous earthenware similar to what I make.
Wow good point of consideration. Clear enough for me .enlightening. thanks....gary h.
Will you please do a video about sealing with tree resin?
I just did th-cam.com/video/-GOfY4inaMw/w-d-xo.html
Thanks so much!
Im confused about unglazed pottery, sealants and storage. So can unglazed pottery with "natural" sealants store food? If the answer is no, then it seems glazed pottery, which is a "permanent" seal covers more cases until the surface gets damaged or cracked. If unglazed pots have to be resealed frequently, then it puts it on par with cast iron which in my opinion, is a pain to maintain. For practical reasons, I am a kind of guy that eats in the same container I keep leftovers in and I suppose that alone should keep me away from unglazed pots (not that I have any glazed pots besides enameled cast iron).