Alisa og Claus Clausen on sat 17 feb 01
Dear Clayart,
Mel has suggested to me that I "get on with it", and that advice is well =
received. It is time.
Over the past half of year, I have made about 300 glaze tests from =
textbook and otherwise published glaze receipes. I am fortunate to have =
a school education in ceramics, but I had not applied myself enogh in =
glaze chemistry classes to stand on my own. Just enough to recognize the =
names of materials, what group they fall into, and some practical =
knowlege like scooping and measuring, line blending and wearing a mask. =
=20
When I re-entered glaze chemistry both on my own and with the enormous =
help of Clayart, I can liken it to revisiting a town I have been in =
many, many times before as a tourist. However, now one year later, with =
a lot of testing, it is like I have lived in that town, and no longer =
walk the tourist streets. I have found many of the small alleys and =
their niche boutiques. I have found the town's best bakery (Clayart), =
which is slightly off the beaten track. It is full of real breads, not =
only whipped cream and glazed sugars. There is a "special bread" to =
try every week. I can come in from the rain, get something good to eat =
and have a great conversation with the personnel, always leaving with =
something to think about. This must be Glazetown.
The purpose of my testing was to give me experience in the =
practicalities of mixing glaze, with the personal hope that by the sheer =
volume of practical tasks and purely mechanical testing of any cone 6 =
receipe I found, I would learn my materials, their behaviors and their =
potentials. I always had the help and support of very knowledgable =
people standing by and now I was on my own. Of course Clayart has been =
thousands of very knowleable people standing by and guiding me, so I was =
never completely isolated. I felt extremely limited by using premixed =
glazes, and I was now firing cone 6 electric oxidation as opposed to =
cone 9 gas reduction, which was what all the studio's I ever worked in =
fired. At some point in the future I want to understand the materials =
well enough to be able to understand exactly what I am looking at when I =
read a receipe, write my own glazes, or at very least, alter published =
glazes to meet the specifications/qualities I want for a partiuclar pot. =
The ultimate goal is to develop a pallette of glazes for my studio that =
are dependable, have easily available materials and ones that I can =
alter to suit special glazing needs as needed. Or when someone else has =
special glazing needs.
Where am I in this project? I do not know what percentage I am finished =
because I really do not know how long this project is. But from a =
practical view, I can say that I have tested enough receipes, that I =
will not test any receipe that I get my hands on for testing sake. Some =
of my kiln shelves clearly show the troubles of my toils!
I must say that testing glazes has never is tedious for me. I like the =
whole process, from checking my supplies, the mixing, squeezing of test =
bowls in every empty space in the kiln, looking at the results, =
admittedly not happy to see spitting and running, to examining the =
glazes and documenting the results. I am glad that some on the list can =
use some of the feedback I have posted on these tests. It makes for a =
nice cone 6 oxidation folder of glaze trials.
However, now I am at stage two.
I am beginning to retest glazes that I think are good for my purposes. =
I am using bigger surfaces for the testing so I have a broader test area =
to inspect. I am making 3 tests of each glaze, to be set in three =
different areas of the kiln, as my kiln does not fire evenly from bottom =
to the top. I am layering glazes to see what sort of blending line they =
give.
I am particulary interested in semi matts and adding colorants to =
glazes. I will be testing several bases with loads of oxide =
combinations, and those test results I will post if I think the results =
are of any success/value.
Some things I have learned down the line are extremely practical and I =
think they are worth listing for the person just getting started to mix =
glazes from raw materials.
I will submit a list of practical methods for mixing glazes in a =
separate post.
Hope I find some good bases to work with and will be able to share good =
additive results.
=20
Best regards,
Alisa in Denmark/Glazetown.
Monique Duclos on sun 18 feb 01
Dear Alisa,
You are truly, a very dear friend for us cone 6 user and all clayarter in
general, I'm SURE!!
I don't always have time for testing glaze or as much as I would like.
Making the pots take always most of my time, so you have helps a lot to
give to the glaze the significance and the interest it should have in the
making of the piece. Thank for all and please continue to keep us posted on
your research !
@micalement
Monique, looking for Glaçureville in Canada
Monique Duclos
mduclos@hotmail.com
3757 Boul des Fondateurs
St-Isidore Nouveau-Brunswick
Canada E8M 1B5
URL: http://www.angelfire.com/mo/pmdv
Some things I have learned down the line are extremely practical and I think
they are worth listing for the person just getting started to mix glazes
from raw materials.
I will submit a list of practical methods for mixing glazes in a separate
post.
Hope I find some good bases to work with and will be able to share good
additive results.
Best regards,
Alisa in Denmark/Glazetown.
_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.
Wade Blocker on sun 18 feb 01
Dear Alisa,
I have tested new glazes for a very long time. With few exceptions, I
no longer use glaze test tiles.I try the new glaze directly on a bowl. If
it is not to my liking I re glaze with a glaze that seems to be made just
for that function.Occasionally the results are wonderful..
Glaze tests that appeared promising when first tested, used on a larger
surface, were often disappointing. Many times just achieving the correct
thickness of a glaze can make all the difference. I generally prefer gloss
or high gloss glazes for my work.Lately, the two recipes submitted by
William eg Rosenrot and black river rock are two glazes that would fulfill
your criteria for good semi matt glazes, possibly also with different
colorants than those given.
I have mixed but not tried the glazes submitted by McWhinney from his
chapters on glazing which he submitted to Clayart, since I am using
several of his glazes that were published in Ceramics Monthly. Mia in
overcast ABQ
Greg Lamont on sun 18 feb 01
Alisa,
First, I want to express my heartfelt thanks for your undertaking this
project and, most especially, for making the results available to the many
served by Clayart. For some potters, firing with electricity is a matter of
choice. For many firing with electricity is a matter of necessity due to
residential area zoning restrictions, etc. Whatever the reason, we all can
benefit by your efforts and your generosity. Well done!
I have tested not nearly the number of glazes you have, but I have found
that the most successful satin-matte base glaze I have ever used is the one
for the Xavier Jade Green Glaze posted by John Hesselberth some time back.
I tested it with 18 colorant combinations and, to my amazement, all 18 were
successful. While some of the combinations turned out to be something that
didn't appeal to me personally, they all worked more or less as they should
have. The other thing that appeals to me is that the glaze is stable, has a
good coefficient of expansion and fits my claybody well, and is proving to
be very durable in actual daily use--all important attributes to me as much
of my work is intended for use with food and drink.
A nice little computer program that will help you better understand the
materials and what they contribute to the glaze mix is one written a number
of years ago by Richard Zakin. It can be downloaded free from the SDSU
CeramicsWeb site: http://art.sdsu.edu/ceramicsweb/
It is a DOS program, though, so if you are using a Mac you may be out of
luck. You just plug in the recipe and it comes back with a description of
what each material is contributing to the mix and--in very general
terms--what sort of fired result you might expect from the glaze.
As you enter the next phase of exploring what glazes can do when layered,
the attached document can be helpful. I have also taken a suggestion from
Greg Daly's book, Glazes and Glazing Techniques and tried refiring some of
my glaze tests to cone 06 after the original cone 6 firing with some
interesting results.
I wish you continued success in your voyage of glaze discovery and look
forward to hearing more about your results.
All the best,
Greg
-----Original Message-----
(Snipped for brevity)
From: Alisa og Claus Clausen
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Date: Saturday, February 17, 2001 9:05 PM
Subject: Getting on with it, Finding my way around Glazetown.
>Dear Clayart,
>Mel has suggested to me that I "get on with it", and that advice is well =
>received. It is time.
>
>Over the past half of year, I have made about 300 glaze tests from =
>textbook and otherwise published glaze receipes
>fired. At some point in the future I want to understand the materials =
>well enough to be able to understand exactly what I am looking at when I =
>read a receipe, write my own glazes, or at very least, alter published =
>glazes to meet the specifications/qualities I want for a partiuclar pot. =
> The ultimate goal is to develop a pallette of glazes for my studio that =
>are dependable, have easily available materials and ones that I can =
>alter to suit special glazing needs as needed. Or when someone else has =
>special glazing needs.
>
>However, now I am at stage two.
>I am beginning to retest glazes that I think are good for my purposes. =
>I am using bigger surfaces for the testing so I have a broader test area =
>to inspect. I am making 3 tests of each glaze, to be set in three =
>different areas of the kiln, as my kiln does not fire evenly from bottom =
>to the top. I am layering glazes to see what sort of blending line they =
>give.
>
>I am particulary interested in semi matts and adding colorants to =
>glazes. I will be testing several bases with loads of oxide =
>combinations, and those test results I will post if I think the results =
>are of any success/value.
>
>Some things I have learned down the line are extremely practical and I =
>think they are worth listing for the person just getting started to mix =
>glazes from raw materials.
>I will submit a list of practical methods for mixing glazes in a =
>separate post.
>Hope I find some good bases to work with and will be able to share good =
>additive results.
>=20
>Best regards,
>Alisa in Denmark/Glazetown.
>
>___________________________________________________________________________
___
>Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
>You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
>settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
>Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
melpots@pclink.com.
>
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