cobbeldi on sat 26 jul 97
I have used the Floating blue recipe from James Chappell's book several
times. When it's good, it's very good, but when it's bad, as when the
glaze has been in the bucket for awhile, it can be a real nightmare! Does
anyone have any experience with this glaze or can offer any variations on
the recipe? Any help would be appreciated.
Debra--roasting in Alabama
Lisa or Ginny on sun 27 jul 97
cobbeldi wrote: When it's good, it's very good, but when it's bad, as
when the glaze has been in the bucket for awhile, it can be a real
nightmare! Does anyone have any experience with this glaze or can offer
any variations on the recipe? Any help would be appreciated.
> Debra--roasting in Alabama
Deb,
I use this glaze all the time, and have never noticed that "sitting in
the bucket awhile" had any effect on it. Ya DO have to stir it up really
well, or you'll have runny globs and a big mess on the kiln shelf.
What problem are you having with this glaze? If it's overfired even
slightly, it'll go greenish on you.
--
Lisa Skeen
Living Tree Pottery & Soaps
http://www.uncg.edu/~lpskeen
YesIAmRU?
cobbeldi on mon 28 jul 97
Lisa, thanks for replying on the floating blue. I checked the archives
for past discussions on floating blue, but they were of little help. The
problems I am having with floating blue are these: (though not all at the
same time)--large chunks falling off in the kiln; excessive crawling; poor
blue color--not only where it is thin. I think the crawling is the major
problem. The clays I use it on are Standards 112, 308, & 153. On 153, my
large platters will crack in the cooling. This is the only glaze that I
consistently have problems with--and I notice most of these problems to be
worse after the glaze has sat in the bucket for more than a week or two.
When I re-use the glaze, I not only stir it, I also sieve it and that still
does not solve the problem. I'm wondering if some of the problems come
from the gerstley borate? There have been some good discussions on
gerstley borate in the past few days. I never had problems with this
particular glaze until I purchased a new bag of Gerstley Borate. Does
anyone have any feedback on a new bag of chemical changing a glaze recipe?
----------
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> cobbeldi wrote: When it's good, it's very good, but when it's bad, as
> when the glaze has been in the bucket for awhile, it can be a real
> nightmare! Does anyone have any experience with this glaze or can offer
> any variations on the recipe? Any help would be appreciated.
> > Debra--roasting in Alabama
>
> Deb,
> I use this glaze all the time, and have never noticed that "sitting in
> the bucket awhile" had any effect on it. Ya DO have to stir it up really
> well, or you'll have runny globs and a big mess on the kiln shelf.
>
> What problem are you having with this glaze? If it's overfired even
> slightly, it'll go greenish on you.
> --
> Lisa Skeen
> Living Tree Pottery & Soaps
> http://www.uncg.edu/~lpskeen
> YesIAmRU?
>
Roeder on tue 29 jul 97
Hello.
I have not had problems with Floating Blue glaze losing quality while
sitting in the bucket. I've used a batch after a year with no problems
(I rescreen before use, though...and add more water if necessary).
I did experience a small amount of pinholing...a less than even
melt...on stoneware (Standard 182G) at cone 6...but never on the
porcelain (A.R.T. 135). Overfiring makes it worse...cone 5 down or 6
just bending, produce the best results in my testing. Thickness of the
glaze makes a huge difference in color. It also combines interestingly
with other glazes under, or over.
For me, the glaze handles well in the raw state, coating nicely, and
staying put until fired.
Where thick, it produces a light blue floating over a blue brown
background. It is very glossy, (glassy), but has lots of depth and
variety. I fire it in a load of floating blue only, since ingredients
in neighboring glazes have an adverse effect during firing.
A friend of mine tried making this glaze at her studio, fired it in a
kiln smaller than mine, and although it was the same recipe and same
clay body...hers looked very different from mine....
I wonder if it is a difference in where the chemicals used are
obtained?
I guess it's just another pain-in-the-butt glaze that produces results
(if only once in awhile) interesting enough to make it worth pursuing.
Candice Roeder
cobbeldi wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Lisa, thanks for replying on the floating blue. I checked the archives
> for past discussions on floating blue, but they were of little help. The
> problems I am having with floating blue are these: (though not all at the
> same time)--large chunks falling off in the kiln; excessive crawling; poor
> blue color--not only where it is thin. I think the crawling is the major
> problem. The clays I use it on are Standards 112, 308, & 153. On 153, my
> large platters will crack in the cooling. This is the only glaze that I
> consistently have problems with--and I notice most of these problems to be
> worse after the glaze has sat in the bucket for more than a week or two.
> When I re-use the glaze, I not only stir it, I also sieve it and that still
> does not solve the problem.
Lisa or Ginny on tue 29 jul 97
cobbeldi wrote:
>> The problems I am having with floating blue are these: (though not all at the
crawling; poor blue color--not only where it is thin. I think the
crawling is the major problem. The clays I use it on are Standards 112,
308, & 153. On 153, my large platters will crack in the cooling.
I am not familiar with any Standard clay other than Brooklyn Red, and I
have no idea what number that is. Floating Blue has never given me much
of a problem. If I put it on too thick, it either crawls or drips onto
the shelf. If it's too thin, it's brown instead of blue, and the
claybody shows through. If it's overfired, it's a brownish green nasty
color. When FB is perfect,, it's a varied blue with sort of a hare's
fur look to it.
In the studio I started in, nobody is allowed to use FB with any type of
white clay, because SOMEBODY, years ago, had a problem with the glaze
peeling off in the kiln. This led them to believe that FB did not like
white clay, and thus the rule. I have broken the rule a few times, but
NEVER havd had this peeling problem, EVER. FB looks great over a white
body. FB will run like an escaped convict when combined with other
glazes.
Try this when glazing: Grab your pot with the glaze tongs. Dip it all
the way in and count 5, then pull it out quickly. If you can avoid
having thick lumps on the pot, you shouldn't have a problem w/ crawling.
Good luck; I hope some of this was helpful.
--
Lisa Skeen
Living Tree Pottery & Soaps
http://www.uncg.edu/~lpskeen
YesIAmRU?
Don Goodrich on fri 1 aug 97
Hi Debra,
Sorry to delay so long in responding. Been wading through a week's worth
of Clayart to get to
this
.. I've had the same FB symptoms you describe, but didn't cure them by making
a new batch.
The advice in Tony Hansen's web page regarding making glazes thick enough so
they cling and
firing to a high enough bisque so less water containing Gerstley Borate gets
absorbed into the
clay helped a lot to fix the crawling/running problem. What seemed to help
the most was being much less
hasty about applying the glaze. I found that if I didn't let the pot dry
adequately between inside
and outside applications, the Floating Blue would tend to flake off the
outside in the early stages
of the bisque. To sum up, try:
removing as much water as you can by decanting after glaze has settled a
few days. This will
also remove some dissolved G. Borate. It will thicken nicely.
Mix really well before applying.
If you apply more than one coat (I usually use two), wait (or force dry,
although this is risky)
before the second.
Maybe add 2% Bentonite and a teaspoon of CMC to the recipe (although if
you're using
Chappell's recipe you've alreamdy added the CMC; he adds CMC to
_everything_).
Hope this helps,
Don Goodrich in Zion Illinois
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