My husband, however, had other ideas. He is a “live for today” type of guy, and for my birthday after we were first married, he bought me a potters wheel. My parents, joining in on the surprise, got me my first kiln. I was more than a little shocked – and completely thrilled. I started going to night classes at the local Community Colleges and things snowballed since then. It started out as a wheel and a couple of shelves in a corner of the living room in our one-bedroom apartment, and tiny kiln in my Dad’s garage. In just a few years, I had myself a lovely studio of my own and more kilns then I care to admit… I’ve rarely taken “no” for an answer, and was eager to tackle the challenge of learning how to crystalline glaze on my own. I read every book I could get my hands on, and found a wealth of information in Jon and LeRoy Price’s book: The Art of Crystalline Glazing: Basic Techniques. I bought a specialized kiln, and began my experiments with Crystalline Glazes. It’s been a great journey! I found that my “real job” as a biochemist translated well into making these challenging glazes work for me. My meticulous attention to detail was an absolute asset in developing reproducible crystalline glazes. Crystalline glazing is trickier than other high fired glazing in many ways. The glazes are extremely runny, so each piece is fired on top of a “catcher” designed to catch the glaze runoff. After firing, the catcher is literally broken off of the desired piece, and if the piece survives, the bottom is ground to a nice finish. Another major challenge is figuring out the firing schedule. The pieces must be fired to a very hot temperature (around 2350°F) and held there for a few minutes to melt the glaze and get the nuclei of the crystals flowing. Then the kiln temperature must be dropped down to a lower temperature to allow crystal growth (around 2000°F) and held there for hours while the nuclei left in the glaze act like little magnets and begin forming crystals. There are a zillion variations on this basic firing schedule, and even the most subtle change in the temperature can have a dramatic effect on the end result. I have a few different glaze chemistries that I like, and a variety of color combinations that I use with those recipes. Naturally, they each require specific firing techniques, so it can be a challenge keeping track of which pieces require which fire. It’s definitely worth the trouble, though, when I open up the kiln in the morning and see the results I was hoping for. Night classes were great – I was learning so much, and also playing on my wheel at home. I was experimenting with all kinds of firing techniques – it is amazing how many ways people have come up with to heat up a pot! I tried raku, naked raku, pit firing, horsehair firing, and high firing with functional glazes. However I was torn – my favorite finishes, the ones I got from horsehair firing and pit firing, were not functional. The functional glazes that I had been working with were okay, but I was never that thrilled with the results. And all the while, I was remembering a small green crystalline pot glazed that I had seen at Moorpark College in my first year that was both beautiful and functional. I had asked my teachers repeatedly over the years about that firing technique, but no matter who I asked – I got the same answer: It’s way to hard, don’t even bother trying. I have started traveling to expand my skill set by learning from the “greats” and each year, I choose a teacher or school to take a class or workshop for a few days or even a few weeks. For those of you who like to learn on your travels, I highly recommend La Meridiana in Tuscany and Tom Turner in North Carolina, both of which dramatically improved my throwing skills. At this point in my life, I am stretched a bit thin! I work full time in a biochemistry lab, am mother to our rambunctious two year-old son Dash, am wife to my wonderful husband Mike, and still enjoy playing softball on the weekends. Time for pottery is short, but I am a happier person when I squeeze it into my schedule. Since we had the baby, it’s tougher to get away, and when life starts to get to me, my husband will throw me out of the house and tell me not to come back until I’m good and dirty in my clay. It always works – I disappear for a few hours into my studio, and return to my boys filthy - and happy as a clam.
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Home My Story Events Gallery Contact I was first introduced to pottery in 1994 at Moorpark College – I was fresh out of high school, not too serious about college yet, and thought a pottery class would be fun. Needless to say, I loved it – I was in the studio as much as possible, and even though my pieces at that time looked like something straight out of the Stone Age, I was enjoying myself more than I thought possible making those crude pots. Sadly, I was only able to take two semesters of pottery in my early college years. I prioritized school, work, and playing on the college softball team, so pottery classes took a back seat. I moved on to UC Santa Barbara where I earned my degree in Biochemistry, got married, and started a “real” job like a proper adult. Life was busy - I was earning a living and putting my better half through college, but I fantasized that one day I would return to pottery, perhaps after retirement.