Crystal Ball Full Course -April 2025

We will dive into exploring how and why crystalline glazes actually work, testing glazes and looking into what we can discover. Full course option includes on demand lectures, lab experiments and live Q&A discussions with Matt.

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Course curriculum

1. Welcome!
2. Introduction
3. Introduce Yourself!
4. Class Schedule
5. Pro-Test Test Tiles and Silicone Mold
6. Need more time? Extend your course access with Patreon!
7. New! CMW is on the Thinkific App!
1. Lecture Notes
1. Hangout Link and Information
2. Week 1 4.23.25 8pm EST
3. Week 1 4.24.25 10am EST
4. Week 2 5.07.25 8pm EST
5. Week 2 5.08.25 10am EST
6. Week 3 5.21.25 8pm EST
7. Week 3 5.22.25 10am EST
8. Week 4 6.04.25 8pm EST
9. Week 4 6.05.25 10am EST
10. Week 5 6.18.25 8pm EST
11. Week 5 6.19.25 10am EST
1. TESTING GLAZES - Getting Testy
2. KEEPING CONTROL - Self Control
3. GLASS AND CRYSTALS - Pain in the Glass
4. SIDEBAR - Just a few random notes
5. BAD HABITS - The ruffling of the feathers begins...
6. CRYSTAL GROWTH INSPIRATION
7. Downloads for Chapter
1. WHAT ARE CRYSTALLINE GLAZES? - What are glazes, is the better question...
2. CHEMISTRY 101 - Better living through chemistry
3. ATOMS... - Never trust
4. SIDEBAR - Material Science
5. PERIODICALLY - I have this talk...
6. MOLES - Get out your calculator
7. MOLAR EXTRACTION - This will be slightly less painful than a trip to the dentist
8. Downloads for Chapter
1. LAB 1 - Explorotorium
2. Mixing Glazes
3. Printing Excel to one page
4. Capturing Images
5. Downloads for Chapter
1. MATERIAL BASICS - 'Cause we're living in a material world, and I am a materials...ceramicist
2. GEOLOGY - Rock Stars
3. SILICA - Very Sili
4. ALUMINA - Aluminia?
5. KAOLIN - Stacks on stacks
6. METALS AND EARTHS - The name of our heavy metal album
7. Downloads for Chapter
1. FELDSPARS -Rock and Roll
2. ALKALI METAL CARBONATES - Carbon copies
3. Frits - Puttin' on the
4. ALKALINE EARTHS - Down to Earth
5. FLUX - Aeon?
6. Downloads for Chapter
1. Lab 2 - Apply Yourself
2. Download for Chapter
1. FORMULAIC - This story is totally predictable
2. SEGER - Temperature is chemistry and chemistry is temperature
3. UNITY MOLECULAR FORMULA - Cones and The
4. RUNNING CALCULATIONS
5. STULL - The better way
6. STULL DETAILS - The chemistry is in the...
7. LIMITS - Sidebar
8. Downloads for Chapter
1. Adding Materials to the UMF Calculator
2. Goal Seek
3. Solver
1. THE CRYSTALLIZATION ZONE - You are about to enter another dimension. A dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop…
2. FRIT FUNCTIONALITY - Perfect Frit
3. FRIT BACKGROUND - About Frit
4. CRYSTALLINE FRITS - Compare and Contrast
5. THE PHASE DIAGRAM - It is just a phase
6. WHY ARE CRYSTALS? - This is not a sentence
7. Downloads for Chapter
1. Lab 3 - Cartography
2. Downloads for Chapter
1. REVIEWING RECIPES - Crystal clear
2. ALUMINA LEVELS - "Clay in your glaze will kill the crystals" - Everyone
3. ZINC LEVELS - "This glaze isn't right, so I'm going to tweak the Zinc" - Everyone
4. TEMPERATURE - "I fire to cone X" - Everyone "No you don't"- CMW
5. 3110 VS. 644 - Am I Boron-ing you?
1. MAPPING - Star Maps
2. MAPPING 1270°C - Map Quest
3. MAPPING 1250°C - Map Quest 2 - The Questining
4. MAPPING 1260°C WITH COPPER - Map Quest 3-Return of the Crystals
5. 1.5 AND 2.0 SILICA AND TEMPERATURE - Compare and contrast
6. 1.5 SI - VARIABLE AL & TEMPERATURE
7. 2.0 SI - VARIABLE AL & TEMPERATURE - The same, but different
8. SIDEBAR - Calcined kaolin did what?
9. TEMPERATURE ARRANGEMENT - The same, but different, different
10. TEMPERATURE ARRANGEMENT - The same, but different, different, different
1. Lab 4 - Exchange Rate
2. Downloads for Chapter
1. SILICA AND FLAX RATIOS - Fiat Flux
2. ALKALI METAL FLUXES - Don't matter
3. TOTAL FLUX RATIOS - Various Si and Al
4. AM FLUXES AND ETCHING - Sketchy Situation
5. ION EXCHANGE - We return to our party, already in progress
6. ETCHING MAPPING - Cartography
7. ETCHING AM VS. AE - Totally Etchy
8. ALKALINE EARTHS AND CRYSTALLIZATION
9. 1246 °C v. 1266 °C - Running hot and cold
10. ZINC - CALCIUM TRANSITION - 2.0 Silica
11. ZINC - CALCIUM TRANSITION - 1.5 vs. 2.0 Silica
12. SILICA AND FLUX RATIOS - Repeat from last week
13. OTHER ALKALINE EARTH FLUXES - The other white flux
1. TITANIUM AND PHASE SEPARATION - TiDi
2. TITANIUM AND CRYSTALLIZATION - Crystal Math
3. TITANIUM AND ZINC - Of course, crystalline glazes have to be different...
4. PUSH IT - Push it real good
5. MATTE CRYSTALLINE - I've heard all the Matt(e) jokes before...
6. MAPPING MATTE - Matting Map?
7. MATTE LEVELS - Spirit level
8. COLORANTS - Color run
9. COLORANT COMBINATIONS - Thanks to Marie Wright
10. STAINS AND SLIPS - Sub-terficial
11. THE EFFECT OF COPPER - Flux reactions
12. REDUCTION - Reductionist
13. CHROME - MOLYBDENUM - TUNGSTEN - The most uninformative segment of the entire class
1. Lab 5 - Flying Colors
2. Downloads for Chapter
1. HOW TO LOWER TEMPERATURE - How low can you go?
2. LITHIUM CARBONATE - What Lithium Carb is and what it isn't
3. BORON - The get down
4. BORON AND DURABILITY - Boron FTW
5. BORON LEVELS - Boron Again
6. CONE 6 FLUX RATIO - The fightin' 6th!
7. CONE 6 CRYSTALLINE MAPPING - 0.22:0.78 (0.55 ZnO:0.23 CaO) - 0.12 Boron
8. ANTI-BORON - Remember how I've said not to use pure Alumina?
9. BRISTOL GLAZES - I Bristol at your suggestion...
10. BALANCING BRISTOL GLAZES - Balance to the force...
11. LEAH LEITSON CHUN - Breaking Good
12. BRISTOL IN CRYSTALLINE GLAZES - Bristol Crystal
13. BRISTOL & TOTAL FLUX RATIOS - Things get weird
14. ETCH-A-TEST - That etch you want to scratch
1. APPLICATION - Apply yourself
2. GRAM WEIGHT IN ACTION - TC Staton in action
3. BISQUE - Biscuit
4. CLAY BODIES - The cornerstone of glaze application
5. WATER AND VISCOSITY - Water, water everywhere
6. NON-RUNNING CRYSTALLINE - Not gonna R-U-N-N-O-F-T
7. CRYSTALLINE EFFECTS - Wreckx-n-Effect
8. NON-ZINC CRYSTALS - Everything but the kitchen Zinc
9. EXPERIMENTS TO TRY - Blast off!
10. IN CONCLUSION - In conclusion
1. CMW End of Class Survey
2. Need more time?
3. Join us for Advancing Glazes!
4. Join us for Clay Bodies!

About this course

$700.00
147 lessons

Crystal Ball Full Course -April 2025

Course curriculum

Welcome to the course!

Handouts

Hangout Link & Information

Week 1

Week 2

Lab 1

Week 3

Week 4

Lab 2

Week 5

Excel Sidebar

Week 6

Lab 3

Week 7

Week 8

Lab 4

Week 9

Week 10

Lab 5

Week 11

Week 12

Now What?

About this course