Alchemy - ‘A medieval chemical science and philosophy aiming to achieve the transmutation of base metals into gold. The discovery of a universal cure for disease, and a means of indefinitely prolonging life.’
During the forty+ years in which I have been making ceramics which involve the specialized technique of reduction fired lustres Alchemy is the term most regularly employed to describe the work. Flattering of course but somewhat ironic because in the reduction firing it is all too easy to reverse the process and to transmute actual gold into what appears to be base metal, a dull grey smear. This of course is when things go wrong, but unfortunately it happens regularly.
The object of the reduction fired lustre technique is to create a range of jewel-like colours and metallic surfaces which are more vibrant than the normal ceramic range. This is achieved by firing pots with glazes which contain suspensions of metal salts (or the powdered metal) of gold, silver, copper, iron and nickel singly or in combinations to the point where the glazes are fluid and the metals are beginning to volatise and at this point (and this point is very tricky to identify) to reduce the oxygen in the kiln which causes the metals which will have oxidized during the firing to revert to their metallic colours. Strong concentrations give true metallic colors weaker concentrations give a range of transparent colors depending on the strength.
Gold gives the most desirable range of colors – however it is the most capricious and unreliable of the metals. A beautiful range of reds, oranges and yellows is achievable, but the point at which they are formed is rather fleeting and a few seconds too long reducing or a degree or two too high and all is lost – the gold disappears into the atmosphere leaving only a dirty smear. I constantly monitor the kiln atmosphere through the spy hole in the kiln for the optimum moment cannot be measured by technology. A rather beautiful violet flash in the kiln means the gold has gone and all is lost.
Silver is more reliable and does feel like alchemy for it can form a lustre which has the appearance of pure gold in combination with copper.and also a range of blues turquoise and purple. Copper is the most reliable of the lustre forming metals with a range of reds and purples. Thus these three metals cover the spectrum, and with modifications with iron nickel and manganese give a very varied palette but alas not all in the same firing. They have different volatisation points which ideally need separate firings – copper, then silver and last gold.
I find the second aim of alchemy- the prolonging of life – when applied to my situation rather amusing. The health warnings which accompany the various chemicals involved in the glaze making are truly horrifying with their threats of death by ingestion, respiratory failure, skin diseases, infertility — etc. Also the process of reduction firing itself can be rather hazardous. It is all too easy to get an explosive mixture of gas and air, and carbon monoxide is an ever present danger. In my early days of experimentation I caused several explosions through inexperience and foolhardiness – the worst being an explosion in the kiln chimney which caused it to collapse onto a brand new car. But as the song says `But I was so much older then – I`m younger than that now`.
On reflection, perhaps the exhibition should have been titled ALCHEMY?
Sutton Taylor November 2016