The Colors of Giotto and Springtime: Our Third Glaze Sneak Peek

When I was studying art history in Italy, it was clear to see how the colors of the Tuscan landscape were reflected in the art produced by the land’s native artists.

Before the Renaissance had quite begun, there was Giotto, famous for his frescoes that adorn the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi and many others, but also for his architecture. Most know him, if for nothing else, for his graceful bell tower, or Campanile, that stands next to Florence’s famous Cathedral, il Duomo di Firenze (seen here to the right of the cathedral’s façade).

The colored marble used to decorate the outside of the Campanile (and of so many other famous buildings of the time) is a green that reminds me very much of the hues of Tuscan olive groves and cypress trees, along with a warm pink, reminiscent of some seashells’ coloration.

(My little sister used to love combing the beach at Pisa for choice shells. I still have some of the ones that she collected for me).

So often do these particular shades of pink and green appear in this Proto-Renaissance artist’s frescoes and architecture that my first art history teacher used to call them “Giotto colors.”

It is a combination I have had a special fondness for ever since. When I see those two colors together, I can’t help but think of gentle Tuscan springtimes. How, then, could I resist pairing these two glazes for our Studio’s palette, when I saw that they were available?

So, here they are! Bellissimi! The glossy Mottled Green Transparent and matte Mottled Pink glazes, both mid-fire glazes from the Standard company out of Pennsylvania, like all the rest of our palette.

Standard 1225 Mottled Green Transparent and 1234 Mottled Pink mid-fire glazes against a backdrop of Tuscan countryside and the outline of Florence’s Cathedral, or Duomo, with its famous dome by Brunelleschi and its bell tower, or Campanile, by Giotto

Evviva! We can’t wait to try them out and, dare I say, breathe a little of that Renaissance spirit into our Studio.

Stay tuned for more news and for the last installment of our glaze sneak peek series, coming soon!

Glaze Selection Sneak Peek! Our Beautiful Browns…

We are very excited to have picked out our initial list of glazes to test with our clays. We’re too eager to get up and running to start mixing up our own recipes just yet, so we’ve opted to start with a selection of eight colors by the Standard company, out of Pennsylvania, along with a clear glaze and a really neat layering glaze specifically for creating interesting effects in conjunction with the others. We thought we’d start by sharing with you the two lovely warm browns we’ve settled on, one dark and one light, because where else would we begin in a pottery studio but with the earth tones?

Standard Glazes “Brown” and “Walnut Brown” are the first two to join our collection! We can’t wait to test them on our white and brown clays.

Rather than choosing each color as a standalone, we have tried not only to select beautiful shades and hues but also to choose ones that work well with each other as a harmonious palette for your unique creations. Stay tuned to see what other colors we’ve picked out for you. We are making sure that all of our glazes are food safe for functional ware!

(For all of you folks who know your way around a glaze room already, we will be using all mid-fire glazes and firing to cone 6 in electric kilns.)

Keep watching this space!

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