Ron & Nancy on sat 19 jan 02
Dear Clayarters,
I like to play around with glazes and colorants, (mason stains,
oxides, and the like). I have my own studio, but I am also taking
classes at the local Jr. college. So this question is one that started
in my studio and the answer will help me with what I do at the school.
Why did I say that? because I am asking about something that occurred in
low fire but I want to apply the knowledge in High fire. I applied a
mason stain wash then covered in a clear commercial glaze. The glaze
separated into pools. In some places the glaze actually spanned bare
gaps in strings. Now I have done this before and it came out smooth. (
about the biggest differences in the pieces are in the shape.) Have not
even a best guess to why it separated!! I want to do something similar
in class (with out the separation) They have a clear but crackled glaze
^10 ( like of like those cracked marbles every one did in the 60's).
Being clear i wanted to try getting the color from underneath to show
through the crackle. The pieces I am working on at school are about foot
and a half feet sculpture, and I would like to give them the best chance
of turning out. Now I know I am dealing with oranges and apples here,
but I need to find out what caused the separation, so I can better
understand what to do or not to do in the high fire. My instructor at
the school ( who is also a international sculptor and does awesome work)
is a Japanese traditionalist when it comes to glazing and doesn't have
experience with this.
Any clues to what I did wrong will be appreciated. Or even better
what I can do right.
Thanks Nancy
Snail Scott on mon 21 jan 02
At 05:45 PM 1/19/02 -0700, you wrote:
I applied a
>mason stain wash then covered in a clear commercial glaze. The glaze
>separated into pools. In some places the glaze actually spanned bare
>gaps in strings...
Mason stains are powdery. If the glaze has a high surface
tension, it won't stick to the powdery surface and will
ball up and pull away, like putting water droplets onto
baking flour.
Use your stains as part of an appropriate engobe, to bind
up the stains and make a better surface for the glaze to
stick to.
-Snail
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