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cone 6 ox. gibby's wild rose tenmoku

updated tue 27 jun 00

 

Alisa and Claus Clausen on sun 25 jun 00


Receipe

Lithium Carb. 9,5
Bone ash 9,5
Neph. Sye 55,7
Kaolin 15,8

ADD
Red iron ox. 9,5

Despite the lithium carb, I had to test this because I like tenmokus so =
much.
I found this glaze to stay on the clay with no flaking. However, it had =
to be applied
relatively thick to get any shine on the surface. Otherwise it showed a =
rather dull brown
semi mat where thinnest. Tempting to continue to test this glaze, =
because it shows a
very nice sparkle on the surface and a bit of black in the surface where =
thickest. But the lithium
makes me want to shelf it. Sigh, because the sparkle is almost =
bewitching.

Best regards,
Alisa in Denmark.

Cindy Strnad on mon 26 jun 00


Alisa,

Thanks for posting this information on your glaze testing. It's always
helpful to know someone else's recommendations and experiences with a new
formula.

I'm curious. Why would you shelve Gibby's Wild Rose because of the lithium
content? Is it because of lithium's high cost, or it's toxicity? I wouldn't
use this glaze on the inside (and probably not the outside, unless I was
absolutely 100% sure of the continued fit) of food containers even if there
was no lithium, but it's a beautiful glaze, as you said, and if it fits your
clay, why not use it where it's appropriate? Someone correct me if I'm
mistaken, but I see no reason not to use lithium because of its toxicity in
a working environment. We wear a proper mask even to mix silica, and this
should certainly be adequate protection for working with lithium.

Cindy Strnad
Earthen Vessels Pottery
RR 1, Box 51
Custer, SD 57730
earthenv@gwtc.net