Medium Tea Pot by David Holmes

David trained at Harrogate College of Art from 1981-1983.   In 1988 he ran his own ceramics gallery in the Piece Hall in Halifax until 1991. From 1991 – 2000 he had his own workshop in Halifax and then moved to Orkney. He now works mainly in crystalline glazes.

 

The Crystalline Glaze - Crystal glazes have been produced for the last 150 years or so. Because of the elusive nature of the crystals not many potters worked in this field. In the last 30-35 years, crystal glazes have become more widely available. Briefly the process involves firing the glaze to a very fluid state 1,300°C approx and then cooling very quickly to 1,070°C where this temperature is maintained for several hours. Slight variations in kiln temperature and atmosphere affect the finished result with often no crystals at all. 

 

Raku - means pleasure, enjoyment, and is the name given to this type of pottery. Pre-fired pots are rapidly heated to 1000C, removed from the kiln glowing red hot then plunged into a container of sawdust. This creates a reduction atmosphere, starving the pots of oxygen, so it takes oxygen from the oxides in the glaze producing spectacular hues of copper, gold, silver and many other exciting colours.