At first sight the two crafts of producing pottery and making articles in glass seem to be completely separate, however, they have a great deal in common. One process involves the cold working of a plastic material which becomes permanently hardened by firing whilst the other consists largely of operating with a very hot molten material which hardens on cooling. Clay when fired to a biscuit state is still fairly porous and usually needs to be made impervious to water. Glazing involves the firing of a thin layer of glass onto the surface of the biscuit form. On further firing the constituent clay particles turn to glass which then seal and fill the pores of the material. This book deliberately brings together ceramics and glass because there is much information, normally attributed to one area which seriously affects the other. It has been written for students, potters and glassmakers working individually or in small studios. It is intended to be a source of understandable information. Charles Bray was Principal Lecturer responsible for ceramics and glass in the Faculty of Art and Design at Sunderland Polytechnic, now the University of Sunderland. He was responsible for initiating the degree course in glass and ceramics and was involved in the setting up of the first Glass Centre in Sunderland. He organised many conferences and these various activities stimulated much of the development of the major glass interest in the area. He was active for many years as treasurer and membership secretary of British Artists in Glass, and its first elected life member. He served on the panel of Northern Arts for many years, is a Fellow of the Society of Glass Technology, is an honorary Fellow of the University of Sunderland and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He now has work in most of the major glass collections and exhibits mostly in Europe. He has been invited to take part in several international exhibitions and in many exhibitions of British Glass.