The Color Purple

Post by Judy Howell

As a potter, I have a universe of colors to work with when developing glazes and decorating schemes.  Science tells us what to do to make a specific glaze, but the most fun results when we mix science with intuition and creativity when developing new glazes/glaze combinations.  For now, let's take a look at how I have used the color purple....or plum, wine, lilac, violet, orchid, grape or huckleberry.

Wait, huckleberry you say?  Have you ever noticed how many different shades of purple huckleberries come in?  I have seen them in everything from cherry red to powdery blue..with this majority being somewhere in the middle to give us the classic huckleberry purple color. My customers have always been fans of my huckleberry spatter design, but once in a while I have had them ask for something in purple, but not the huckleberry spatter motif.

At the same time, I have had repeated requests for pottery with dragonflies on it.  In my mind, the color purple goes perfectly with dragonflies...my own personal use of artistic license.  I made a test batch of glaze, formulated to (hopefully) interact with an over glaze of white (similar to what I get when using my blues and greens in a similar fashion).  Having previously learned how to make stamped patches to apply to my pottery I set about finding a dragonfly prototype I liked and had it turned into a patch stamp and my purple dragonfly line was born and has been very well received.