The bonsai pot reglazing attempt , success or not

I had a failure with a wee glazing experiment a couple of weeks ago.  The bonsai pot looked like an old bread bun that had been lost at the back of a cupboard for months!

It had that mouldy look to it, thanks to some experimental dabs of glaze that should have done much more spectacular things.

This mouldy pot sat on the shelf staring at me every time I walked in the garage, so I decided one way or the other it was going to be reglazed, easier said than done.

I poured some green/blue glaze around the side, but it promptly ran off.  You see the problem is that during the glaze firing the clay will vitrify and it wont absorb water(or very little, 2-3% if I recall rightly).  Good if you don't want it to freeze and crack in the frosts, but not good if you decide to try and get a layer of liquid glaze to stick.

Problem solved, well it helped.   I shoved it in the kitchen oven on a very low heat for 10 minutes.  It was warm enough so that when the glaze got in contact with it, it dried instantly and didn't run off.   I only got a thin layer on though, but that was enough to try.  This is what it looks like now.



Ok so it still does have that mouldy piece of bread look to it, but gosh what a difference.  I get a real kick out of seeing how glazes react to each other.  The colours are much more vibrant than what the camera has picked up.

This one is a keeper, no idea what tree I'll put in it, but it'll sit proudly on the shelf now as something to inspire me to keep experimenting.

The family cant understand why I get so excited about things like this, my daughter thinks it looks even worse now, beauty is in the eye of the beholder!