Well, here I go again with the crazing! It’s crazy!
crazing: small hairline cracks that appear in the clear glaze giving a crackle effect.
I thought I figured out the cause; apparently not! Argh!
The cause could be any number of things:
- the clay
- the glaze – it only happens with the clear glaze so that could be a clue!
- the combination of the clay AND the glaze
- glaze put on too thick
- heating or cooling in the kiln – too fast? too slow?
- too porous resulting from under firing – kiln not reaching desired temperature?
- and the list goes on…
It’s back to the drawing board!
A note about crazing: Any and all glazes will craze over time. Functional pottery suffers a lot from heavy use – hot water, cold water, in and out of the microwave and dishwasher. Whether or not you should continue to use pottery that has some crazing is debated among potters. Some claim the tiny cracks weaken pottery. Others say tiny cracks can harbor bacteria. Then there are others who say don’t worry about it. I tend to like the ‘don’t worry about it’ school of thought. 🙂 Simply examine the pottery from time to time and judge for yourself whether or not to continue using the pottery. My favorite coffee mug has been in use for 15 years and still going strong; crazed and all! 🙂
