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david and copper red

updated sat 1 sep 07

 

mel jacobson on fri 31 aug 07


david, the only theory and advice anyone
on clayart can give is what has happened
in our own research and studios.

what i said about copper red happens to me.
in my kiln, with copper red.

i agree with dannon....clay color has a great
deal to do with red. those b-mix pots have
a great advantage over my dark iron bearing
bodies.

yes, copper is very complex. very. just like temmoku and shino...complex.

but the slow cooling, or double cooling, and
temp it is fired to...with the amount of flux
in the glaze...matters.

and, yes i have seen great cone 6 red, cone 7 red.
but, if you have a cone 10 glaze and fire it to 9....it
makes a difference.

there is never any `end all` statement about any glaze.
each kiln, each firing style will make a great deal of difference.

and, without question....you have done as much or more research with
copper red than anyone. i would always take your advice over
almost anyone.

i have however...done full kilns of copper red. and, they were all
copper red. and, when i fire my kiln to cone 11 i get bright red and purple.
and cone 9 gives me pink. and, if i do not get good reduction/total reduction
i get really nice white and green.
mel

from: mel/minnetonka.mn.usa
website: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/

Clayart page link: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html

Richard Aerni on fri 31 aug 07


Back in 1982 or 1983, I spent the entire winter testing and developing
copper red glazes. About 700 tests in total... Without exception, the best
reds (very deep, very red) came on high iron bodies, with thick glaze
application. One of these pots (a 20 inch tall covered jar) was bought by
Ceramics Monthly for their collection. I just now looked at a pot in my
living room from those days, and the clay is darker than anything I have
worked with in 20 years now.

So, you say something is a truism for you, and it may be so, but it might
not hold water for others.

And, I fired everything in those days in a hard brick kiln, which did indeed
"cool slowly"...perhaps that helped. I have tried refiring copper reds
which didn't go red again to low temp (there was an article in Studio Potter
a couple of decades ago about making reds through "striking" the glazes,
refiring to low temps) without any noticeable success.

Best,
Richard Aerni
Rochester, NY

On Fri, 31 Aug 2007 06:52:54 -0500, mel jacobson wrote:

>david, the only theory and advice anyone
>on clayart can give is what has happened
>in our own research and studios.

>i agree with dannon....clay color has a great
>deal to do with red. those b-mix pots have
>a great advantage over my dark iron bearing
>bodies.

>but the slow cooling, or double cooling, and
>temp it is fired to...with the amount of flux
>in the glaze...matters.
>
>