Copper Red Glaze

Copper Red Glaze, a most sort after glaze by many potters. A difficult glaze, once mastered can be reproduced however it is temperamental. There is an old story that dates back some 4000 years concerning the origins of this glaze.

A group of potters in China were busy firing their kilns when their village was attacked. The kilns were just reaching top temperature when they were smashed by the attackers. The potters fled. When things settled down the potters returned to the kiln site to salvage what they could of the pottery. They were amazed when they found pieces of pottery that should have been green were a beautiful red. The emperor demanded pottery with this glaze. The potters experimented to reproduce the conditions which the attack created.

The potters eventually discovered that if copper oxide was used and fired in reduction, a very smoky flame at high temperature, starving the kiln of oxygen during the latter part of firing, oxide that normally produced green would turn red.