Dan Dermer
American studio potter

Dan Dermer has been working in clay since 1981, when he began making wheel-thrown pottery at the age of 11. In the 1990's, he had a long hiatus from regular studio work, spending time instead in the high-tech environment of Silicon Valley. In 2001, Dan opted for working less, and enjoying hobbies more.

Dan's passion for clay was reborn via a ceramics studio built at his home in San Jose. Most recently, after kicking an addiction to copper red pots, his latest work emphasizes earthy, ash-type glazes made with various colorants -- iron, copper, nickel, manganese, layered over traditional functional vessels thrown from a toasty warm buff stoneware clay.

Recipes/Tech Info
The teapot and cups pictured above have a combination of glazes layered by spraying in succession a matt glaze used to prevent glazes from running too much, a thin layer/spiral of Temmoku for interesting yellows and oranges, and the following fake ash glaze, usually used only on the upper third of the piece -- a formula Dan picked up at a Steven Hill workshop two years ago:

SH Fake Ash cone 10 Reduction

Kona F4 6.82%
Dolomite 3.79%
Whiting 45.45%
EPK 30.30%
Flint 13.64%
total. 100.00%
Bentonite 2.27%

For Blue add:
Red Iron Oxide 1.00%
Cobalt Carbonate 1.00%

For Green add:
Copper Carbonate 6%

For Yellow add:
Nickel Carbonate 3%

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