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My Fascination With Wood Ash Glazes

Posted May 1, 2023
Wood ash from a local Pizza parlour and an Inferment vessel with a wood ash glaze

People ask me about my fascination with wood ash glazes. They wonder why I bother. There is much labor involved in using them, and they often produce flaws in the firing process. We decided to post an article on our website to share information about wood ash glazes and our relationship to them.

Sake Set carafe and cups and a Tray glazed with Forerst glaze
Sake Set carafe and cups and a Tray glazed with Forerst glaze

And today, I want to encourage you to check out the new article and focus on the charm of wood ash glazes. In the article, we discuss the origins of the material and its chemical composition and clarify the differences between low, mid, and high-fire glazes. You can read about it in depth in inferment.com/wood-ash-glaze

Unloading-kiln-day, Hadar is holding a two-gallon vessel Forest Glaze
Unloading-kiln-day, Hadar is holding a two-gallon vessel Forest Glaze

So then, why are wood ash glazes fascinating and beautiful? The surface of a wood ash glaze is complex and rich with layers of colors and textures as if there were not one but a pattern of several glazes. The impression it gives me is like that of a musical instrument that produces several sounds at the same stroke. In ceramics jargon we call these phenomena “phase separation” and “crystallization.

Condiment Dish, on the left Waxwing glaze and on the right, Moss glaze

Condiment Dish, on the left Waxwing glaze and on the right, Moss glaze

Rather than going further into descriptions of the aesthetic qualities of wood ash glazes, I want to direct your attention to the beauty of the ash glazes actually in the studio. Look at the “Moss” glaze, the black and brown spots floating on the green surface, and the occasional golden yellow spots appearing at a certain temperature.

Cup with Handle glazed with Glacier wood ash glaze

Cup with Handle glazed with Glacier wood ash glaze

Look at the “Glacier” with its soft white clouds and blue streaks – or at the texture of the “Forest” glaze with vertical trails of liquid glassy material flowing down amid shadows of yellow, green, and brown, and the “Desert” glaze with its arid and austere surface. All of these effects are very particular and unique to wood ash glazes created in reduction high reduction!
1 gallon Desert glaze water seal fermenting vessel and its companion half a gallon
1 gallon Desert glaze water seal fermenting vessel and its companion half a gallon

You can also read more about our collection of wood ash from various trees and how each one of them is treated as a unique substance.

Mixing glazes in the studio on the left, wood ash buckets from various tree species
Mixing glazes in the studio on the left, wood ash buckets from various tree species
Mixing Bowl wood ash glaze called Waxwing, as it resembles the bird's eggshell surface
Mixing Bowl wood ash glaze called Waxwing, as it resembles the bird’s eggshell surface
Tray glazed with Wetland glaze, bottle and cups glazed with Waxwing glaze
Tray glazed with Wetland glaze, bottle and cups glazed with Waxwing glaze

And last, I want to touch on the poetic dimension of my experience with wood ash glazes. Though we work to develop a repeatable product, there is always some unpredictability in the glaze outcome. This unpredictability is intriguing and inspiring to me as an artist who works with natural substances – minerals, rocks, wood, fire, and water. The elements have their own expression.

Unloading the kiln, Daphne is holding Moss glaze cup
Unloading the kiln, Daphne is holding Moss glaze cup
I’m inspired by working with wood that has been collected in my own region – the mountains, the forests, and the orchards around Washington State. The ash is the remains of the trees that surround me, connecting me to the place in which I live, think, and feel, and when I drive to the wood oven pizzeria to collect ash, I get a chance to chat with the cook and feel a part of my neighborhood.
2-gallon Desert glaze and 1-gallon Forest glaze fermenting vessels, placed in Firenze, Italy.
2-gallon Desert glaze and 1-gallon Forest glaze fermenting vessels, placed in Firenze, Italy

This dynamic – in which elements flow into the studio from my local environment are transformed and shipped out to other localities and other countries as sculptural forms and functional vessels –gives me so much pleasure.

It’s as if the studio is itself a plant with far-reaching roots, taking in our love for art, food, and nature and then producing vessels for everyone to use and enjoy in unfamiliar places.

Thank you for being a part of it all.
Hadar and the inFerment team

Glacier glaze cup made by a student in our studio for her loved partner- best morning coffee for the climbers couple!
Glacier glaze cup made by a student in our studio for her loved partner- best morning coffee for the climbers couple!