Eric Suchman on wed 5 jun 02
I found this site on Zsolnay and a bit of his technique. I wonder how low
he fired. Sort of a controlled 'raku' idea. Low fire reduction in a
standard fuel burning kiln? I know I've achieved copper reds in saggars at
^04.
"In his efforts to create more artistic ceramics, Vilmos Zsolnay became
absorbed in the production of reduced-pigment luster glazes. The technique
had been used before in Islamic, Spanish, and Italian ceramics but had been
lost. Zsolnay recreated the glazes with experimentation in collaboration
with a chemistry professor at the Technical University of Budapest.
In this process, after two firings, the surface of the pottery is painted
with a compound of silver or copper oxide and then fired a third time at a
lower temperature. The pots are not placed in protective SAGGERS, so when
wood is added to the kiln, the carbon monoxide of the smoke combines with
the oxygen in the metal oxides. The resulting REDUCTION causes the oxides to
partially crystallize and leave a thin layer of metallic deposits on the
surface of the vessels. After cleaning, silver oxide produces an IRIDESCENT
yellow-gold luster, while red to warm golden-brown tones result from the
copper oxide.
The brilliant Eosin, or "sunrise," glaze used on this vase was first
developed in 1893 and became Zsolnay's most innovative, celebrated technical
accomplishment. A rich ruby-red luster was the most difficult color to
achieve. Iridescent colors, like metallic red Eosin and deep blue Labrador,
established Zsolnay as a leader in the production of art pottery. The
complexity of these glazes makes them difficult to reproduce.
Many Zsolnay pieces were one-of-a-kind art objects. In cases where multiple
copies were made, artists prepared colored design sheets and skilled
artisans transferred the designs to the vessels."
http://www.artsmia.org/ceramics/zslonay_vase/made.html
Snail Scott on thu 6 jun 02
At 09:07 PM 6/5/02 -0700, you wrote:
>I found this site on Zsolnay and a bit of his technique...
>The resulting REDUCTION causes the oxides to
>partially crystallize and leave a thin layer of metallic deposits on the
>surface of the vessels...
The modern overglaze lusters function on a similar
principle, with the reducing agent mixed into the
luster. There are some red colors available. There's
also some decent articles on Persian-style metallic
lusters out there, though I can't remember the specific
sources. They do take a bit of experimentation to
get good results. Sounds like there's quite a bit of
potential, though, for someone who wanted to try new
things with such techniques!
(Though I'm not sure that 'crystallize' is quite the
appropriate term for the process.)
-Snail
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