05/06/2026
One of my first SUPERNOVA*💢 Frozen Pond Combos😍, without the use of RHC (Running Hot Chowder), the latter being not so easily obtainable in some parts of the world. I was especially motivated to find a decent Frozen Pond combo done purely with Amaco glaze products back when I created this bowl in January this year, as Amaco asked me to deliver artwork to be featured at Amaco‘s booth at the NCECA in March 2026 🤩🥳! I was so excited & honored — what a great opportunity! — but talk about pressure to produce something beautiful 😅. And since my IG channel grew mostly due to sharing Frozen Pond glazing reels, I wanted to still use this technique, if at all possible to look great without Spectrum products. I was SO happy when I realized Supernova (CO-6 from Amaco’s COSMOS line) showed promising flowy properties when layered — but there were also some challenges to still overcome. This was the bowl that gave me confidence I might be on the right path. But it was not the one I sent to Amaco — the links for the bowl & the vase that were featured at NCECA 2026 are at the very bottom ⬇️⬇️.)
Supernova gives results that are different than RHC, but still, it provides interesting flowy patterns, and the dots flow a little bit towards each other, a bit like RHC. Most importantly: it wasn‘t just solid white dots that don‘t do that much else (like pure Honey Flux (HF) would do — one can still get great results with HF, but I wouldn‘t really call it a „Frozen Pond-effect“).
I love the flower that resulted here in that bowl, thanks to the shape of the bowl, the right amount of glazes & firing temp.! 🥳😅👍
One small thing is the slight „orange peel“ surface that this combo with Supernova creates here, and 1 or 2 pinholes — this is not the case with Celadon as base glaze, and was also not so much the case with Albany Slip Brown… seems to be a reaction specific to this combo… but it still looks beautiful! 🤩 And later, I was able to reduce the risk for this further by extending the slow-cooling after the drop&hold firing down to 930°C (not just down to 1000°C as I did here), plus using the HF/S-mix instead of pure Supernova as explained below:
*💢(Nowadays, instead of pure Supernova, I usually use the HF/S-mix (a 1:2 glaze mixture of Honey Flux (PC-17)/ Supernova (CO-6), weight ratios). With HF/S for the dots, the dots are lighter/ better visible, and also slightly slowed down with regard to flowing down, which is especially important at cone 6 🙂👍.)
CREDIT for the Frozen Pond Technique (with RHC) goes to Kathy McGuire 🤩🙏❤️.
GLAZING SUMMARY:
(All glazes from AMACO - American Art Clay Company🥳)
Inside:
2x Deep Firebrick (PC-59),
1x Chun Plum (PC-55),
1–2x Supernova (CO-6) sponge dots (middle row 2x),
2x Blue Rutile (PC-20) all over.
Outside:
2x Cobalt (C-20),
1–2x Supernova (CO-6) sponge dots (top row 2x),
2x Indigo Float (PC-23) all over (2nd coat only on top 3/4).
On white, bisque-fired groggless clay (W from Sibelco).
🔥Fired on clay balk stilts to witness cone 5.5 (top shelf), using my usual „drop & soak + slow cool“ schedule: Heated with 100°C/h til 650°C, 10 min hold, then with 150°C/h til 1100°C, no hold, followed by 60°C/h to 1185°C, 10 min hold, dropped quickly to 1130°C (-500°C/h), 30 min hold, then cooled to 1000°C at -78°C/h. (As mentioned above, better to continue with the slow-cooling down to 930°C.)
🔗LINK for the VASE that was features at NCECA 2026:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1AyMBnWZqD/?mibextid=wwXIfr
🔗LINK for the BOWL that was features at NCECA 2026:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1GRf7WeZ2d/?mibextid=wwXIfr
🔗LINK for the ALBUM of all my SUPERNOVA Frozen Pond combos:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.122136747951000706&type=3
