A potter's oil-spot Marx

WCU Author/Contributor (non-WCU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Frank R. Vickery (Creator)
Institution
Western Carolina University (WCU )
Web Site: http://library.wcu.edu/
Advisor
Richard Tichich

Abstract: This thesis will represent a body of work that consists of ten, six-pound bowls thrown on the wheel and glazed using a cone 6 oil-spot base glaze, cover glaze one, and cover glaze two. Oil-spot glaze decoration originated in Northern China during the Song Dynasty. The name “oil-spot” refers to the high iron content of a glaze or clay slips that when fired in oxidation, produces large and small spots of iron on the surface. My goal is to produce a variety of size spots, specific colors surrounding the spot, and designs produced using glaze application techniques such as layering and waxing. This thesis will be successful based on the ability to reproduce these goals and designs from firing to firing. Most of the research and literature available today on oil-spot glazing represents the relationship between iron and an oxidation firing atmosphere at stoneware temperatures. Those temperatures range from 2,300° to 2,400° (F) using wood as the heat source (or more recently gas). My aesthetic intention is to develop a body of knowledge about cone 6 oil-spot glazes using midrange firing temperatures (2232° F) in an electric kiln.

Additional Information

Publication
Thesis
Language: English
Date: 2012
Keywords
ceramics, Cone 6, Frank Vickery, Oil-Spot, Pottery, Western Carolina
Subjects
Ceramic bowls -- North Carolina
Glazed pottery -- North Carolina
Glazing (Ceramics)

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