Making with Place, Glaze testing

Developing a Yorkshire Glaze System

Today's focus shifted from individual glaze recipes to designing a structured programme of material research. Rather than searching for a single successful glaze, I began planning a systematic series of line blends that explore how local materials behave and interact. This feels like an important change in methodology. The aim is no longer simply to make attractive surfaces, but to generate knowledge through carefully documented experimentation.

I started by considering the role of each material within a glaze. Beach sand becomes the primary source of silica, local ash acts as the flux, and local clay provides alumina and contributes its own geological character. Understanding these materials by their function, rather than simply as ingredients, has helped me think more critically about how a glaze is constructed and how local resources might replace commercial ones.

The idea of a Yorkshire-inspired shino also began to take shape. Rather than attempting to recreate a traditional Japanese shino, I want to investigate how the qualities associated with shino. Soft white surfaces, flashing, texture and subtle variation might emerge through Yorkshire materials. By progressively replacing soda feldspar with local clay, beach sand and ash, I hope to understand where the balance lies between retaining the essential character of a shino glaze and developing something entirely rooted in the Yorkshire coast.

This led to the development of a 100-test glaze programme. Organising the research into line blends, ash comparisons, clay comparisons and colourant trials has transformed what initially felt like isolated experiments into a coherent research framework. Each test has a clear purpose and contributes to a broader investigation into regional ceramic materials.

What excites me most is that the glazes themselves become a way of mapping the landscape. A change in ash source, clay source or sand composition is no longer just a technical variation, it represents a different part of the Yorkshire coast. In this sense, every test tile becomes a small geological record, documenting the interaction between place, fire and material.

I am beginning to see glaze research as an extension of fieldwork. Collecting a bucket of clay or a bag of beach sand is only the first stage. The real research happens when those materials are transformed, compared and understood through making. Over time, these tests will build a material vocabulary unique to the Yorkshire coast, helping define the ceramic language at the heart of ‘Making With Place’.