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Steve Loucks & Lynnette Hesser | Episode 460

Steve received his MFA at Alfred. He is a full-time potter and retired JSU professor. Steve recently self-published a book on glazes. He has been a presenter, panel moderator, glaze doctor, and TGDL at NCECA. He has hosted the AL Clay Conference and been awarded ASCA and SAF/NEA fellowships. Lynnette Hesser received her MFA from UF. She taught 26 years, now works full-time in the studio, and was the contributing editor on a book on glazes for her husband, Steve Loucks. She received the ASCA Crafts Fellowship, conducts workshops, exhibits her work nationwide, and has co-hosted the Alabama Clay Conference.

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Why write a book about glaze?

Steve: I attended an NCECA conference and I went to the glaze lecture and I am not going to name names, but they made it sound so difficult that I was just blown away and thought that is not that way it needs to be. It is much simpler than that and people need to know that it is not that complex. It can be a very fun way for you to adjust your glazes and find your personal signature look. My method is just very simple and very doable and hopefully it will turn people on to wanting to try it themselves because it is not that difficult.

Lynette: And I have had material science too and did ceramic engineering at the University of Florida so I have my method of glaze testing on two pages in the book so it is a little bit different than Steve’s. I do a little teaspoon approach with trying to find a color and then when you’ve got what you want. But I start with a base glaze that I know already fits my pieces and that I like to work with and I work with the different colors on that, adding a lot of teal and keeping notes. The good thing about the way we do it is we mark our bowls or test tiles immediately so you do not lose results.

Steve: I have a specific test tile design that I use and I have an article that is coming out in Ceramics Monthly next month. With my test tile design you can’t lose the information in a notebook  because if you look at it ten years later the information is written on the back. It is always there and always available. It is wonderful for disorganized people like me.

What is your highest hope for this book?

Lynette: I think it has to do with what Steve said about making people feel comfortable with glaze. A lot of people don’t like glazing but we do and we want to share the joy and to help people not have as many accidents in the kiln and losing pieces. Because that is so frustrating and this way it is not, it is exciting.

Steve: My hope for the book is to continue doing workshops because I love meeting all the people and the travel and all that. Also, as I said, to make it much more accessible and easy to do. So far the feedback I have received from my workshops, they were all amazed at how easy it is to get good results.

Do you care about making money off of your book?

Steve: No. I doubt that is going to happen.

Lynette: Laughter. That is not going to happen. There is no way, because the amount of time it took to write it, we will never be compensated for that. It is more of a joy.

Do you see it more as a business card then for being able to get workshops?

Steve: Yeah, hopefully it will help getting the workshops which I really enjoy doing.

Was the process of writing the book difficult?

Steve: Yes, I started out several years ago toying with the idea, so I would write a chapter and then I would put it aside and then it was a big obstacle. And then Lynette forced me to write it, but that’s another little story. So when I started writing it I noticed that the previous chapters were not in the same language and flow so I literally had to rewrite the whole thing. Then there was the domino effect, if I put this down, then I need to say this, oh, then I need to talk about this…I thought originally it was going to be a pamphlet around 44 pages but it ended up to be around 163.

Lynette: He even talks about how important it is what kind of foot your put on your piece is, so that you control where the glaze goes. And then how you load the kiln, you have to know your glazes to know where they better fire in the kiln.

Did you guys self-publish or did you use a publisher?

Steve: We self-published. That was both wonderful and kind of crazy to find someone to print the book at a reasonable cost.

Lynette: That was very, very hard. I was on the phone a lot and doing so much research. We ended up with a company in Atlanta who were absolutely fantastic. We cried when we saw the first copy of the book, the prototype. The paper is soft but it is partially water resistant. It is actually a kind of lab manual so it opens up and lays flat.

What did you do to celebrate when you got your first copy in your hand?

Lynette: Slept!

Steve: The thing was we introduced it at the Alabama Clay Conference and the printer was absolutely wonderful. So we were way behind schedule and we had to have it Feb 16th for that night at the clay conference. We were heading to Atlanta to pick up the book and she calls us and tells us the traffic is outrageous in Atlanta, I will meet you half way. So she met us half way and we picked up the book and she had them all in the back of her car and we drove from there to the Alabama Clay Conference. So the first looking at it was at the clay conference and we were just swamped with everybody, so it was a conference and a party at the same time.

Book

Glazes from a Potter’s Perspective 

Contact

stevelouckspottery.com

Instagram: @steve.loucks.94

lynnettehesserceramics.com

Instagram: @lynnettehesserceramics