Mixing a Blue Nuka Pottery Glaze

Mixing up a smallish batch of blue nuka glaze, from about 10 kg of raw material and half a bucket’s worth of water-mask on, windows open, and a batt to quickly cover the containers with after the powder has been dumped into them. Doing this prevents me from breathing in too much of the dust and as I’ve been a ceramicist since I was a teenager, I’d like to try and avoid potters rot if I can, silicosis.
Having the bucket half filled with water already means much of the powder immediately slakes down and overall, there’s less dust, it also means less clumps form in the very bottom of the container that my mixer might otherwise struggle to reach. For those wondering, this is a Gladstone five-gallon glaze mixer.
I use a ladle for much of the measuring out and draw the powder straight out of the sacks of raw material that are kept hidden away in the studio underneath a tarpaulin, (I learnt that the hard way with a leak in my roof and a 25 kg bag of nepheline syenite).
Before starting a glazing session, I’ll heap out all the raw materials I need, prepare my buckets with water, don my mask, and then weigh out, mix and sieve. Thereafter the studio is given a THOROUGH mop. Do you have any tricks for mixing larger batches of glaze? I’m always looking to improve my method!
#glaze #handmade #WIP #ceramics #pottery #howitsmade