Substitutions for Raw Ceramic Materials

douard Bastarache's book Substitutions for Raw Ceramic Materials is a 'tour de force' of substitutions of particular ceramic materials with others. The book is the result of a research project undertaken between 1993 and 1995 before computer glazing programs became widely available and is targeted to those ceramic artists and potters who don't have computer access to help them with otherwise complex calculations in materials substitutions.

This is a comprehensive publication on glaze materials substitutions and includes 10 chapters filled with glaze recipes using the sustitution method. Both the original and substituted recipes are provided. Materials substituted include Spodumene, Petalite, Lepidolite, Potash Feldspars, Cornish Stone, Kona F-4 spar, Plastic Vitrox, Volcanic Ash, Dolomite, Wollastonite, Pryophyllite and Talc. Three hundred pages contain several hundred glazes. In a typical glaze materials substitution, Custer Feldspar might be substituted by Nephelene Syenite and Silica, or Spodumene by Lithium Carbonate, Silica and Kaolin, etc.

Edouard Bastarache lives in Quebec, Canada, and has a colorful history. He studied surgery, internal medicine and neuroendecrine physiology and has been a consultant in occupational and environmental medicine for 15 years. At the same time as his medical studies, he studied ceramics under Julien Cloutier at La Boutique d'Argile (The Clay Shop) and later also taught at the same school. Bastarache now lives in the Sorel-Tracey region of Quebec, near the St. Lawrence river. He uses waste materials from steel plants located in the area to color many of his glazes and clays. He fires most of his work to cone 9 1/2 in reduction in a 60 cubic foot downdraft gas kiln.

His book Substitutions for Raw Ceramic Materials is the result of a total of 30 years dabbling in ceramics and a 3 year research project. It is currently available directly from Edouard.