The Appeal of Green Glazes Developed in the Boston Valley Terra Cotta Glaze Lab
Boston Valley Terra Cotta works with our clients in helping them to achieve their unique visions, often highlighted by a unique glaze or finish. Through our Design Assist services, which includes the expertise of our Glaze Lab, we can create custom solutions, finishes and match specific colors, even some of the more difficult hues. For example, green glazes have become popular in new construction projects – such as The Fitzroy in NYC and The Rathbone and Newman Passages in London, England. Although many of these glazes are typically developed to mimic existing building materials such as limestone, marble, and granite, some glazes are developed to fulfill a specific request to replicate a non-building material. In the case of The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art — Center for Asian Art, the Boston Valley team were tasked with matching the green color of the ornamental mineral jade.
The UK has a particular fondness for vibrant, high sheen glazes, so the Rathbone & Neuman Passages feature a stunning green glaze.
The green glaze used in the Ringling is more on the yellow-green end of the color spectrum.
The Chinese Teahouse uses a green glaze for its roof tile.
The team in our Glaze Lab combine experience & knowledge to reproduce consistent results on a larger manufacturing scale.
The unmistakeable visual impact of ceramic glaze is achieved by a combination of color and finish. Glazes are the result of carefully selected combinations of raw materials. Oxides, nickels, and chromates come together with colored stains to create the color. Developing glaze formulas for manufacturing is a laborious and detailed process since it requires consistency over a large quantity of pieces. Testing is an important part of the process in both application and firing; the shape of the units can affect how a glaze is finished as much as kiln placement, temperature, and duration of firing affects the finished product. A glaze’s sheen: gloss, satin, or matte, affects how light interacts with the terra cotta and thus affects how our product is perceived.
Boston Valley has been mixing glazes and matching finishes in our Glaze Lab for over 30 years. With hard earned experience in creating glazes in an industrial scale, we are able to match colors – including the green of jade – and provide a consistency throughout a project scope.
The upcoming 60 Curzon project is a multi-layered mottled green glaze with a varied sheen.
The Fitzroy in New York City has a glossy finish to work in combination with other building materials, such as copper and oak.
