Jeffrey Crowe on mon 14 dec 98
Karen:
In your search for that glaze, have you been just using existing glazes
or have you done your own investigation from scratch using a triaxial
blend test? It may be your choice of materials that is limiting the
success of your search. Cornwall stone may not be the best choice for
that temperature range to acheive the surface qualities you desire.
If you still want to use that material, you may have to do two types of
tests. The first, to find the surface/fit qualites you desire and a
second, having found the first, the color qualites you desire. Since you
are searching for a white color it may be fairly easy to get that
result. Besides just adding an opacifier, such as zircopax, you may want
to blend it with a very small amount of an oxide or mason stain to tone
down the white. You could try 1/4% or less of rutile or a mason stain
like #6129-Golden Ambrosia mixed with 3% zircopax for example.
I have had some success using the following three ingredents in a low
fire glaze, that yields a satin finish: Frit 3289, Ball Clay, and
Dolomite. My firing range was hotter than what you want, so you would
need to adjust the percentages for ^07. The first two ingredents by
themselves yield a basic low fire glossy glaze. It is the addition of
dolomite that imparts a satin surface quality to the glaze. If you have
never done a triaxial blend test, there are many good books that show
the percentage charts you can use to start your investigaion. The good
thing about triaxials, is that it shows you if the ingredents you have
chosen are viable for the type of glaze you want and how each
percentage of the ingredents affect the resultant test glaze.
Jeff Crowe
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