How to Make Glaze Test Tiles

[@ragnkja]

It makes sense to make your test tiles as similar to your style of work as possible, both in terms of the overall way you make them and how you finish them, so that they’re representative of how the glazes will look on your pots.

[@newtovideo100]

Florian, you are the world's best instructor! Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I always learn something new with your videos. :)

[@heidicash5897]

Love your videos. You are a great teacher with impeccable standards. I also love seeing some mishaps. Makes you real, and makes feel better about mine! Thank you

[@TeresaBaileypolymath]

Florian, you make the process so fun! I watch your videos between my studio times and I get encouraged to return. I have beome an intermediate potter, not a baby potter, so I am making progress and you are helping!

[@Evan-hw6mn]

I've 3D printed a big cookie cutter that cuts twelve 1"x3" out of a slab and let them dry in the bat I cut them on. I use a rolling pin to press it through. I dip the face of the tiles and fire them upright on a stand similar to your tile ring before you cut it. I cut the ring in half so I can fit them better in the kiln.

[@jesusalbertomunozgarcia8395]

You teach me more than what my ceramics teacher does, thank you

[@floriangadsby]

That means a lot - thanks for taking your precious time to watch, best of luck potting!

[@ragnkja]

And together they should be able to teach you a great deal indeed. Florian provides closeups with explanations, available for you to watch as many times as you need to, and you can even speed up or slow down the video to catch things that aren’t obvious at real-life speed. And of course any good teacher provides real-time guidance and answers your questions, and even when they don’t know the answer they should have the expertise needed to know where to look for it.

[@deepashtray5605]

That's how I like to make them, the only thing I do different is add a lip on the bottom line of the inverted "T" shaped base to hopefully stop any running glaze from flowing off... because glazes don't always act the way we imagine. Also helpful for me to mark the tiles with a code identifying what type of clay it is since I use more than one type and they are not always easy to tell apart after bisque firing. That or even press a small indentation on the base where the glaze can pool or just to see how the glaze looks when fired horizontally. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience, very much appreciated.

[@thekeeler846]

I love your videos Florian, thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge here with us. I'm 49, and just did an introductory class this past weekend... it was awesome. I love it... I've been inspired by your skill, precision, passion and style. You're a very talented person. Cheers mate

[@DaggerMax1]

Your standard is impeccable. Cheers!

[@jakobhalskov]

Perfect timing as I just started making a big batch of test tiles of the three types of clay I plan to work with. I don't have a throwing wheel so I roll out a big slap and cut rectangular pieces which I punch a little hole into, so the tile can hang on a nail for display later.

[@floriangadsby]

Love the idea of displaying tiles - we had an amazing glaze lab in the college I went to with hundreds of them hanging - maybe I need to begin doing that, just one more step for each damned thing!

[@Cedric_Monson]

I recommend adding a little variation for each clay type so you can easily identify the body type just by the shape.

[@reidcushman3562]

I learn something every time I watch (and re-watch) an FG video. "Inspirational" is an adjective that gets thrown around a lot, but these videos truly merit it. I'll never possess even a tiny fraction of the skill and artistry displayed in them, but they do inspire me (verb chosen deliberately), even as a likely-forever novice, how to try to do a little better each time I return to the wheel. Thank you.

[@JohnSmith-fw2et]

Same process here but I let the tiles get bone dry then scrape them over a lap held buck using a kidney or metal rib scraper. Then I'll have a bucket of water to the side and damp sponge the test tiles. I'll work on one process at a time and things move along efficiently that way. When it comes to tile making I'll do 2 or 300 of them. Having bisque fired test tiles on hand is practical because random or creative ideas happen spontaneously and a quick test is handy. Make notes of your glaze application, take a photo and even make notes on your photo. I number every tile on the bottom with a brush using red iron oxide. They also manufacture ceramic pencils...

[@CosmicGlowUP]

Oooo great idea notes on the photo!!!

[@anaqacollection1616]

Wow it’s wonderful work, it’s a dream to learn doing this

[@Userusinutube]

Thanks for sharing your process, as a ceramic student it is really precious and fascinating! Also we extrude our test tiles because we’re not near as good as you on the wheel ahah

[@floriangadsby]

You're very welcome! I think I might get an extruder just to make test tiles as this method is a little tedious...

[@PamelaRoss-qh6jh]

Sheesh--Thanks Florian. I'm glad to know that I'm a member the perfectionist club! My mud buds shake their heads and roll their eyes, but I am undaunted.... If my piece does not pass muster with ME-- it never sees the light of day. RECYCLE AND REDO! Period. I'm the same on canvas. Hell, it's MY work!

[@ceciliahartwich]

Amazing! I add holes to them for hanging and I am also thinking of adding a line during throwing at the bottom as old forge does so he can break of the standing part of the test tile from the bottom. I really like the concept of mimicking your own work in the test tiles, it makes a lot of sense in understanding glaze movement on the clay. Usually you are advised to have a lot of texture and sharp edges on your test tiles but if you don't have it on your work then it could definitely be a misleading glaze test.

[@Macaroni_King]

Very nice video. Near the end, something that popped into my head was that the design could even be made into pieces for board games, etc with my first two examples coming to mind were Chess in a combination of glaze colors and piece shapes as well as Stratego in having a space on the outside curve for the various unit paper inserts or even ceramic tiles further slotted, or not.

[@evhoRoLL]

Even his test tiles are gorgeous. what a legend.

[@CouryPalermo]

So helpful! Thank you!

[@chrispitio7177]

Whenever I've made test tiles I've just rolled a slab of nearly leather hard clay, cut strips, applied the textures I want to test while theyre flat (I typically want to use these for reference so I'll make them kind of wide and put several textures on the same tile), and then I fold and press the bottom 2-3 inches into a foot. This method is a bit quick and dirty but the tiles stand nicely and I can get something like 20 finished tiles in about 30 min. They're not as neat as your's, but they suit my purposes just fine and while I make them for the sake of reference, I actually enjoy the mild mystery of what will happen in the kiln so I've never felt like they needed to simulate my work exactly, just apporximately

[@jaseczka]

I use exacto knife to cut the tiles, it leaves really minimal burs/edges that I don't feel the need to cleanup (and I too want my tiles pretty tidy). I didn't think about trimming the ring upside down for some reason, this is a great tip, thanks!

[@FavinolaBas]

Great video, so helpful ! 👍

[@ArvinAbadilla]

Thank you Florian. Do you prefer using a clay bed rather than a bat cloth for reliability reasons?

[@dizzzy12]

damn that tile slicing makes my brain happy

[@jimcoonce2894]

Thank you so much for all your helpful videos! I throw a test tile ring similar to yours but I like how you wire off the ring on the wheel! Makes a lot of sense to do it that way! Also, using the larger drywall mud knife looks like a more efficient way to cut the tiles from the ring? Out of curiosity, do you have an idea what kind of sharper knife you will use?

[@SeanJonesYT]

You’d technically get one less tile per turn due to the wire cut part, but I think you should use a long wire stretched across the top to lightly impress a straight line through the center, then move 90 degrees and do another, then continue into 8ths, 16ths, 32nds to really get even test tiles. Or get some other method of spacing them evenly would be quite satisfying and in line with your perfectionism

[@Enn-]

I love this! I don't know how you store your test tiles. Have you ever wanted each to have a hole so you could hang them on a ring of cord or wire?

[@floriangadsby]

I usually just store them on a ware board - nothing special - but in the future, when I have a larger studio... I'd like to make a large wooden frame with thin shelves, onto which the tiles could be lined. No holes, so I can't hang them, maybe I should have started that practice when I first began making them!

[@Enn-]

@@floriangadsby the majority of your pottery career is still ahead of you, if it's a change that would make storage/sorting/cleaning/moving easier, sooner would be better than later.

[@Cerannie]

Hi Florian, I just built a workbench with a birch plywood top like yours. Would you mind sharing what type of oil you use to condition it? Thanks for another great video.

[@hannahgush]

What an incredibly useful and informative video - Thankyou! I tried to throw some test tile circles for the first time on Friday and wish I had watched this video first - mine are embarrassingly messy!! I am wondering what the tool you use to chop the tiles up at the end is called? I think I need one in my life and 'scraper' doesn't seem to bring anything like that up in a Google search! Many thanks! :-)

[@micah06v8]

Try looking for a chocolate or griddle scraper. I looked up a bunch of different scrapers and that seemed to come closest to what he was using.

[@floriangadsby]

A plastering scraper can yield good results too!

[@ToeCozy]

Same here! I have a very sloppy, ridiculous wheel of test tiles drying at the community studio and now I realize all the ways I went wrong! ha! Well I can reclaim that and start over with better information!

[@hannahgush]

@@micah06v8 Thankyou SO much!

[@hannahgush]

@@floriangadsby Thankyou Florian, I did a bit more in depth googling after posting my comment and did eventually find an Amtech scraper, which resembles yours and I think should do the job, particularly if I sharpen it! Many thanks! :-)

[@Cedric_Monson]

Personally when I'm making test tiles I throw completely different styles depending on the clay body. For my normal stoneware, I throw something similar to what you made first, porcelain I make a smaller tile with a gentle curve to the flat section, and the high iron stoneware I throw with a similar gentle curve to the porcelain but the tile is larger and I also have hard edges to see how the glaze moves over the curves of the pot. But I think I am going to change my method just a little. I'll keep the sizes different for the different kinds of clay so I can easily tell the difference between clay bodies but I'm going to add marbled tiles as well as different textures along the tiles, similar to the stepped tiles. I'd love to see your take on marbled clays.

[@noxington4260]

I’m not a potter and could never afford to be one, I have no use for this information. I just really like watching your videos

[@smwillia]

Those look like they could be pieces for some kind of boardgame, especially a sci-fi-esque boardgame.

[@franciscoiurcovich2304]

how do you identify them later ? i use to put a letter or number stamp at the bottom, as a reference, and then write on my notebook that reference and the glaze (with some more informartion as specific gravity, numbers of dips, type of. clay, etc).

[@teporaahomiro9271]

HI..WHERE WOULD YOU GET THE WHEEL FROM IN..BRISBANE..AUSTRALIA TY ❤

[@meckspeeder7047]

where do you get your clay from?

[@グリーンルベラ]

動画ありがとうございました。

[@lb003g0676]

Not everything is thrown, I've always thought you could also throw your handles. I really love how uniform/angular you can make them.

[@aharonkolatch2886]

Interesting that you don’t finish the top like you do your rims. I would think it would help you understand how the glaze will break on the rim more accurately

[@floriangadsby]

I think the sharp edges on the top, the blocky, squared rim, should provide information that's practically the same, not in every case, but in some, but you're right!

[@gregoryooley5159]

You are even meticulous when it comes to making test tiles!

[@aolster3198]

How do you label these?

[@aniankrieg3831]

maybe you want to make another video about glazing these ones now (:

[@meeprific]

DOGGO.

[@galacticmechanic1]

Very interesting, I guess the dog has been trained not to walk over any pottery on the ground I would not trust my cats not too.

[@floriangadsby]

He once leaped over a board of bowls, destroying a few, and was sort of terrified by the whole event, so nowadays he's pretty good about avoiding any pots I leave on the floor.

[@emmabemmaboo]

Yyeeessssssss

[@davidsobel3303]

I'm surprised that with your affinity for perfection that you didn't measure the distance between each cut 😏

[@Paul-pl4vy]

Look a bit like gas turbine blades. Might not last long however.

[@parkman29]

Have you ever accidentally consumed slip from a cup? It looks an awful lot like chocolate milk

[@juanQuedo]

I did struggle more doing my firsts test tiles rings than pulling handles 🥲 You make it look easier than it feels for me.

[@MyMazyCat]

Just keep practicing and don’t stress yourself! Use recycled clay for a few test runs. Sometimes it helps to leave a thin skin of clay on the floor while throwing a test tile ring and remove it with a pin tool after. Helps keep the ring shape!