Lily Krakowski on mon 2 jun 03
Colemanite which was mined, as I recall, in several places in the world,
was a natural calcium borate. When it disappeared from the US market it was
replaced by Gerstley Borate which proved as as annoying as Colemanite.
More and more people moved to calcium borate frits. I have a number of
glazes that started with colemanite and now are made with Frit 34, Frit
3124, Frit 3134, or Frit 3195. THESE DO NOT contain barium etc. A little
soda, and I think some potash--but you get that anyway with Neph Sy. As the
relationship of calcium to boron is 1-1.5 you can see that 3195 is "closest"
. I haved replaced colemanite or gb in many glazes simply by gram for gram
substitution, adding alumina and/or silica at need. Has worked fine so
far...
Lili Krakowski
P.O. Box #1
Constableville, N.Y.
(315) 942-5916/ 397-2389
Be of good courage....
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