DescriptionIron khaki and my mid blue and purple crystalline glaze.DetailsCode: D8R Year: 2026 Height: 210 mm Porcelain: TP161D8R. Wet Marl Wood, Cliviger. Sunlight with flash fill.D8R. Towneley Park, Cliviger. Sunlight with flash fill.
Crystalline Ceramics
Crystalline glazed porcelain forms by Richard Bideau
Crystalline Glaze
Careful control of chemistry and firing conditions give rise to glazes that produce crystals during the firing cycle. Crystals are stunning with fantastic shapes that shimmer like holograms as light catches them. The possibilities are almost endless…
About Me
I have been exploring the crystalline process since 1997, becoming a full-time potter in 2009. My former career in chemical engineering, coupled with a lifelong association with pottery have given me the skills needed to combine art and science.
Buying
My work is sold through art galleries and exhibitions. I also have a selection of pieces available to buy directy directly.
Recent Work
D8Y
DescriptionIron aventurine and an etched version of my dark green crystalline glaze. With this variation of my aventurine, there are surface crystals as well as the tiny interior ones that give the characteristic sparkle. The interaction pattern with the zinc silicate...
D8M
DescriptionIron khaki and my green and gold crystalline glaze. The ground is a delicate pale green with a fine dusting of secondary crystals. The primaries are golden with vivid structure.DetailsCode: D8M Year: 2026 Height: 210 mm Porcelain: TP160D8M. Dyneley Lane,...
D8J
DescriptionThis piece has a lot of interest in a small size. Iron khalki on the neck and my blue and purple crystalline glaze on the body. The primary crystals are mid blue with prominent growth rings. The ground makes this glaze unusual, a combination of secondary...
Latest News
Potfest in the Park 2026
My next exhibition will be Potfest in the Park located in the beautiful grounds of Hutton-in-the-Forest, near Penrith in Cumbria. The show runs from Friday July 24th to Sunday July 26th, 10 am to 4:30 pm each day.
Potfest in the Park 2025
My next exhibition will be Potfest in the Park located in the beautiful grounds of Hutton-in-the-Forest, Cumbria. The show runs from Friday July 25th to Sunday July 28th, 10 am to 4:30 pm each day.
Potfest in the Park 2024
My next exhibition will be Potfest in the Park located in the beautiful grounds of Hutton-in-the-Forest, Cumbria. The show runs from Friday July26th to Sunday July 28th, 10 am to 4:30 pm each day.The kiln problems I had in November 2023 have stimulated a great...
For Sale
D8R
DescriptionIron khaki and my mid blue and purple crystalline glaze.DetailsCode: D8R Year: 2026 Height: 210 mm Porcelain: TP161D8R. Wet Marl Wood, Cliviger. Sunlight with flash fill.D8R. Towneley Park, Cliviger. Sunlight with flash fill.
D8M
DescriptionIron khaki and my green and gold crystalline glaze. The ground is a delicate pale green with a fine dusting of secondary crystals. The primaries are golden with vivid structure.DetailsCode: D8M Year: 2026 Height: 210 mm Porcelain: TP160D8M. Dyneley Lane,...
D7C
DescriptionIron khaki on the neck and my mid blue/green crystalline glaze on the body. The vivid primary crystals are a soft blue and float on a complex ground packed with different types of secondary.DetailsCode: D7C Year: 2026 Height: 205 mm Porcelain: TP150D7C. Wet...
D4R
DescriptionIron khaki and my mid blue crystalline glaze. Soft blue crystals with vivid holographic structure float on a complex ground of secondaries. Photographed on a bright spring day in a river valley of the Lancashire Pennine hills. DetailsCode: D4R Year: 2026...
Stories
Hagg Wood – A day in the life of a potter
What does it mean to be a potter? The question is difficult to answer. The rewards are many but it can't be denied that there is a great deal of the mundane. The essential tasks of sieving and grinding are my least favorite. Opening the kiln after a glaze firing a...
Porcelain From the Carboniferous Period
With crystalline effects, the glaze is only a part of the process. The type of clay body also exerts a powerful influence on the fired result. For this reason, and many more besides, each potter, working in different parts of the world, each with its own raw...
Edinburgh and Deep Time
Time we may comprehend, 'tis but five days elder than ourselves. Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, 1643. If the Eiffel tower were now representing the world's age, the skin of paint on the pinnacle-knob at its summit would represent man's share of that age… Mark Twain,...
Gritstone and Thunder
Crystalline glazed surfaces have complex structures that change in appearance under different lighting conditions. For this photography session, the weather offered the possibility of some dramatic conditions: it was warm and humid, the wind, so often a powerful force...
Technical Articles
The colours produced by nickel in zinc silicate macrocrystalline glazes
In zinc silicate macrocrystalline glazes, nickel oxide is well known for producing blue crystals set on an orange ground. There is a belief circulating in the crystalline glaze community that the blue colour is caused by cobalt contamination of the nickel oxide rather...
Testing a cup internal glaze for thermal compatibility
Cups need to withstand the thermal shock of having hot liquid poured in over and over again. This places several requirements on the clay body and glaze coating, one of which is the need for the internal glaze and body to have compatible thermal expansion...
Ball Clay Sieve Residue
Ball clays are an important constituent of my custom porcelain bodies. They influence the throwing characteristcs and exert a powerful influence on crystal growth. They tend to be minimally refined whole sediments containing coarse particles that have no place in a...
Testing a Floating Blue Glaze
Recently, I was asked if I could formulate a glaze based on a recipe known as 'Old Forge B'. It is a type of glaze known as 'Floating Blue' so called because a blue opalescent layer of colour appears to float upon the glaze below. The mechanism is a high boron content...