Introducing your teacher ...

My name is Lawrence Ewing. I have been involved in ceramics since the early 1970's both as a practioner and as a teacher.

I am the author of the glaze calculation software called Matrix which was developed in the late 1980's initially as a teaching tool in Dunedin, New Zealand's School of Art. Since that time the software has gone through many transformations and is now widely used throughout the world on Windows based computers. Users of Macintosh computers may now use the software through emulation programs.

After 20 years full-time teaching of ceramics during which time glaze was my specialty area, I am committed more now to the teaching of glaze chemistry and have developed a special website for the delivery of this course.

Glaze Course Scope

The glaze technology program for international students aims to give you a fundamental understanding of what makes ceramic glazes "tick". By the end of this course you will be capable of working with glazes at an analytical level. A knowledge of the nature of raw materials and the transformations that occur when those materials are heated will enable you to use such tools as glaze computer programmes to manipulate and control your glazes. You will practice and become familiar with techniques and strategies for solving many of the fundamental problems which professional and amateur potters and ceramic artists face in the finishing of their work.

Click here to see an overview of the course content.

Course Delivery

The programme is divided into lessons which are delivered via this website. When your registration is completed you will be able to login and go to your own personal home page.

A new lessons is made available to you consecutively on your home page as each previous lesson is completed. When you have completed a lesson it is "ticked off" and access to the next lesson is made available on your home page.

Time Allocation

You may take as long as you like to complete this course.... there is no time limit as each student's progress is individually tracked.

Course Content

Click here to see an overview of the course content.

When you enter a lesson you will see an introductory section which outlines the content and lists:

• the basic Concepts introduced and
• the Activities suggested.

In each lesson the content is divided into

• Introductory notes summarising concepts, activities and equipment you will need
• Lesson Notes in which each concept is presented followed by a discussion of that concept - each concept is displayed in a brown bar.
• Activities - a series of activities design to reinforce and expand on the concepts introduced.

Click here to see a list of introductions to the current 30 lessons

Communication

Communication is of vital importance in this course. While the best endeavors are made to ensure that each lesson is self contained, There will be frequent occasions when you wish to discuss lesson content or concepts with myself or another student.

The website provides sections enabling you to post questions either to myself for answering online or to a discussion forum where other students can engage in the issues that you raise.

At the end of each lesson

When you complete each weekly section you tick off the lesson on your Student Progress page. This is necessary so that the next lesson can be made available to you.

What to do when questions arise

Throughout the course questions will arise regarding the content or relating to the results of your practical work.

You can submit these questions by using the special forms provided. The student questions page lists questions that other students have asked. You may find the answer to your question there. If not then you to post your own new question.

If you wish to communicate on a more personal matter then use the standard email link lawrenceewing8@gmail.com

Communication with other students

Feeling that you are not alone and that help is at hand is one of the most important aspects of on-line learning. This course will attempt to create a "community" of students by enabling communication systems on the website. Unless students have requested that their contact details remain confidential, you may communicate with other students by email.

You may find out more about other students enrolled in the course by selecting the "Student List" item on the drop down menu available at the top of each page. This list will only contain the details of students who have agreed to making the information available on the website.

The "Discussion Forum" will enable a dialogue between students and with myself.

Photographs

If you have a digital camera, or a standard camera and a scanner, then you may email photographs of your glaze tests etc so that we may better understand comments you make or questions you may have.

Digital images may also easily be attached to emails when communicating with me.

Tutorial Support

At the completion of each lesson there is a set of activities which you are invited to complete. These activities are designed to engage you in practical exercises that will help with your learning and will give you practice in the techniques introduced in the lesson.

If you keep digital records (using a word processor) of your observations etc while doing these activities, these records can be emailed to me for comment. This is of course optional.

You may also submit questions in the "Student Questions" section of the website

Collection of Recipes

This course is not designed to provide you with recipes that you can use in your workshop practice. However, given the knowledge, techniques and software that the course offers, you will be able to modify many of the glazes that you might gather and test in the course of your personal research.

Basic Glaze Materials

The following list includes a very basic list of suggested raw materials that you will need in order to complete this course. Most of you will have a supply of raw materials already in your workshops. You will, no doubt, prefer to use your own feldspars and clays rather than the specific ones mentioned in the list.

Duing the lessons there are examples of glaze calculations that use materials available to New Zealand and Australian potters. In the activities section of each lesson there may be tasks that involve some test firing on your part. It is expected that you will be able to use your local materials for these activities.

Weighing Materials for Glaze Tests - Scales

During this course you may be collecting many glaze recipes and weighing out 100grm test recipes.

In order to do this you will need a set of scales capable of weighing amounts as small as 1 gm. If you do not have a set of scales capable of weighing small quantities then you will have to manually divide samples. This process will be described in more detail during the course.

Computer Resources

Computer work is an important part of this course. You will be instructed on the use of Matrix - a computer programme developed for the analysis and manipulation of glazes. In addition you will use an interactive programme called GlazeTeach to support and consolidate your understanding of glaze technology. Finally the internet has become an essential source of information. You will be directed to internet resources that will inform your glaze studies both technically and aesthetically.

GlazeTeach

This is an html based software package designed to supplement the learning that you do in the glaze course.

It is very simple to use and can be revisited at any time. It can be accessed from the Help menu when Matrix is running on your computer.