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The Dreaded Test
Do you remember the instructors daunting footsteps as he or she got closer to his or her delivery of the dreaded handout, handouts that you had prepared for over and over for hours and hours and still felt so ill prepared you thought illness might be your only way out of this terrifying massacre of brain power. Tests! AHHHH!!!! I don’t know about you Randy, but I had the worst test anxiety of all time. I was the textbook definition of an over thinker. I always thought the instructor was trying to trick me in someway… after changing my answers back and forth, then considering the option that had not been in the running, I felt like I could strongly argue any to be the right answers. Multiple-choice tests always turned into short answer rebuttals. I did well in school, but test days were always the worst.
After growing up and being far removed from that side of things, I Honestly can say I sometimes get that feeling when I go to glaze my work. I really don’t care to glaze, which may seem bizarre to most, but I guess it’s just the finalization of the process. Typically my minds eye view is never fully realized and the second guessing as I am in the glaze room making argument and explanations for why what I have chosen should be the best choice… but never really knowing…that test anxiety comes back like a crashing wave!
Hello everyone, we are going to be addressing the dreaded test tiles. What’s interesting about these little guys, I think instead of test tiles, they should be called study guides, or cheat sheets. They actually tell you the results of your kiln with your glazing techniques! That’s great!!!
So first how to make them
Clay What color clays do you use
are you a handbuilder or wheel thrower.
What direction do you fire your work
What size wall thickness do you use when you create.
Extruded vs Christmas trees vs cut slabs vs wheel thrown little cups or wheel thrown test tiles
Textures.
Breaking of glaze. Carved or just lined drawn through… or special
Slips or underglazes
Typically one black one white But if there is a go to color for you. Add that one too
How to apply
When you make your work, how do you typically apply it?
Brush, dip, pour, spray….
Use that method with your tiles. Your results won’t be the same with every method so don’t expect that!
Coats,
Double dip, paint on 2 layers then 3, maybe do some with four,
Interactions with other glazes
Over under
permutations
Warning
Test tiles show you best case and sometimes worst case scenarios… make sure you plan for that.
Props
or glaze with a large foot
