By I’ve been thinking a lot lately about these Japanese and Taiwanese potters getting ridiculously iridescent Yohen style Tenmoku glazes. Just wondering out loud whether or not they use exotic materials. I recently read in John W. Conrad’s book Black Pearl and other Saturated Metallic Glazes and he mentioned the fact that chemical analysis of the original Chinese Tenmoku teabowl glazes didn’t yield any traces of silver, gold, or any other exotic materials – they did find traces of Mn and Fe, which is not at all surprising I suppose.
Oketani Yasushi
銀座 黒田陶苑
GINZA KURODA TOUEN
Still though, after reading Greg Daly’s book on Lustre… Seems to be that short of some super secret recipe that I’ve yet to discover (or have someone share with me) a pretty good way to go about getting glazes like that. I think I’m gonna do a mini-fundraiser and buy some Bismuth and Silver Nitrate and give it a shot. Who knows what might happen?
