Mike Bush
I began pottery at night school in Slough Polytechnic back in the eighties. I have built a gas -fired kiln, attended several workshops run by top potters and have had various tutors along the way. In recent years I have fired all my work in electric kilns with clay at high (stoneware) temperatures which create vessels that are tough, oven proof and non-porous.
From the start, I have developed my own glazes and aim to create pots and glazes that seem to “fit one another”. Some people say my early life as a research chemist has helped with this but I still maintain that the phase of the moon has more to do with what happens in the kiln!
I do like to experiment with glaze compositions and their application to biscuit-fired ware. Often my pots are glaze fired more than once and some have electronically controlled cooling and reheating cycles following the top temperature selected.
Electric-powered kilns make these processes much easier than historic methods of firing of course.
