Making Ceramic Test Tiles

The clay will brought to the edge of this in the form of a bottomless cylinder.

Making ceramic test tiles.

Chances are you ll find one that makes sense with what you are making. To make simple melt test tiles i use this easy technique. After centering spread the clay out flat similar to a plate. For this test tile we are using a 15 diameter bat.

Spread clay to the edge of the bat and then begin to open. Roll out a slab of high fire clay and cut into 6x6cm squares. The easiest way to make up your test glazes is to make a series of different ceramic tiles in the different types of clay you ll be working with. General ideas regardless of the shape.

Put a hole somewhere to hang your tiles on a wall board or to hang off the handle of the bucket. In this video an excerpt from his dvd understanding glazes. Put some type of word. And to improve your results it helps to have test tiles that mimic the kind of work you make.

Using a piece of high density foam and a 4x4cm piece of wood quickly press each square into the foam creating a shallow dish. Once they ve been through their first firing then you can test out your glazes on them. It is generally a good idea to add texture to part of your test piece so you can see how the glaze will respond.