Smithsonian Contributions - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

112
Ash Glaze
At one time, ash glaze was the most widely used glaze in White
County. Local potters found it relatively easy to prepare and also
found pleasing its translucent brown or green appearance.
In making ash glaze, the potter ground together wood ashes and
clay setdin's — the latter a fine reddish silt collected locally. Cheever
Meaders preferred using oak ashes in his glaze mixture, although he
acknowledged the suitability of other hardwood ashes. Pine ashes
were sometimes employed, better materials lacking, but they tended
to flow off of the vessel (to "puddle") during firing and had to be fixed
with an extra measure of setdin's. This, in turn, had its limitations,
since "the more setdin's you use, the harder it is to melt in the kiln."
Periodically, local farmers would bring slaked ashes to the shop, a
by-product of home soap-making, and Cheever was always happy to
get these. Through "slacking," as Arie called die process, the lye was
leached out, and the ashes, as a consequence, did not burn her
husband's hands as they ordinarily might have: "I've had to grease and
doctor his hands a many a time— [the lye] used to crack your hands."
Unslaked ashes also were said to endanger the newly glazed ware
by causing the clay body to draw during drying. This last problem was
recognized by other potters in the vicinity, including Guy Dorsey:
"After it'd glaze, you had to handle that ash glazing pretty easy till you
got it in the kiln, because that ash glazing somehow nearly rotted that
clay. . .it'd break just like everything. But after it's burned, it's all the
same."
Around 1908, approximately the time when Ball jars were being
introduced into the area, die Meaderses began adding glass fragments
to their ash glaze. This was done largely to make up for a deficit of
silica in the glaze mixture — a potential source of trouble since it could
cause premature melting —but as an added benefit produced a shinier
ware surface. During the early years, this material was very scarce,
according to Cheever Meaders: "They'd pick up every little piece diey
could find anywhere. You didn't get much glass back men." Although
Cheever once profited from someone else's disaster when a "Ball
wagon" overturned in his neighborhood, mosdy he depended on his
farmer friends to save their broken jars and botdes.
Ash glaze remained Cheever's favorite until his death. Because of
the eroded condition of his glazing rocks in later years and because of
the arduous labor involved, he turned at length to using substitute