Izmir

I recently had the opportunity to go to Izmir,in Turkey, to be assistant to Professor Jochen Brandt from IKKG in Germany. He had been invited by Professor Sevim Cizer at the Dokuz Eylul University Ceramics department to hold a course on quartz-ceramics.

We started with the basics, going through the history of quartz-ceramics, which includes the first discovery of glaze!
Our practical work included making egyptian paste (a self-glazing body), quartz-beads glazed in cementation powder in the Iranian Qom technique, as well as a throwable quartzpaste body (which is what i use in my own work).

It was a really great experience! The people we met were enthusiastic, friendly, extremely generous, hardworking and lovely. (If any of you are reading this, THANK YOU!)