Carol Ryan-Aube on wed 15 oct 03
Thank you Ron and John for writing an excellent book!! I am so excited.
After ordering all the raw materials with clay - 1,400 pounds shipped to
Palmer, Alaska - I finally have mixed them and fired. I asked a question
about a year ago about shipping prices and with Clayart's help - I realized
a big order was the only way to go and it only cost me a little over $120 to
ship it up here. The mixing was long because I screened it two times
through 80 mesh. I learned a valuable lession to add more water and it went
quicker.
I wanted to write the result of my first firing of the glazes so I guess
this is timely seeing that we are discussing the book again. My clay is a
porceclain type.
My favorite is varigated slate blue. It came out nicely matted with great
texture. The neatest thing I did was dip light stormy blue two times at the
top and varigated slate blue one time at the bottom at the bottom of a cup -
turned out great!!!
Light story blue was a lot greener that expected. It looked better dipped
two times than once.
Dark and Stormy Night Blue was a very medium blue when dipped two times but
I did notice that it was a little greenen when it was dipped once or was in
a spot that was thinner. Those were the only blues I tried.
Bone was nicely matted and looked great dipped 2 times. It was an off white
but not tan when dipped 1 time.
Raw sienna was a really nice warm matt brown. I really liked it.
Oatmeal was a very typical outmeal and quite nice. It was nicely matted.
When dipped two times it was a rciher brown and one time was more of a tan.
Field Mouse Brown was very nice. It was a light gray green when dipped one
time and a darker gray when dipped twice. It came close to dripping when
done two times.
Licorice was very black. When dipped two times it almost dripped but
didn't. When dripped once it seemed like it was plenty. I tried Waterfall
brown on the rim like in the book. The waterfall brown looked more like the
blue and green in the norther lights - being from Alaska - that is quite
attractive.
Waterfall Brown was a little disappointing but I was ready for it because
Ron and John said it wouldn't work well on porcelain. It came out a very
dark brown with some interesting blues and aquas in it. Single coverage
looke O.K. and 2 times seemed to be too thick.
Carribean Sea Green did not turn out as great as in the book. It was
glossier and sickly looking - hard to explain. Some blue seperated in it
when I dipped it once. It looked better dipped two time.
Spearmint was O.K. It was matted and I liked it better when dipped 2 times.
I used Glossy Base Glaze 2 as a clear glaze liner. It worked better when I
poured it two times. When I poured it once there was a lot of cracking.
As a newbie, it was a wonderful experience. I know I have so much to learn
about glaze chemistry but I am so greatful that I didn't have to start with
pre-made glazes. I have learned so much from this group. Without you I
wouldn't even know about Ron, John, and their fantastic book. I wouldn't
know about Mel, Vince (and your book I read nightly), Snail, Joyce, Arti and
all the rest of you I admire so much. Thank you.
Carol Ryan-Aube
Palmer, Alaska
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Elzbieta Sekula on thu 16 oct 03
Carol,
Thanks for your great post. I love to hear how people's tests turn out. I,
too, have all the ingredients for trying the MC6 Glazes, but haven't had the
time to try them yet. I'm saving your post.
Thanks so much, Ezbieta
Gene and Dolita Dohrman on thu 16 oct 03
Carol, I am going to save your post-I think I will even print it out and put
it in my Mastering ^6 glaze book. It is so good to have that kind of
documentation. I am about to embark on mixing my own glazes and this kind
of information will help with my testing. Thank you so much.
Dolita
dorhman@insightbb.com
Louisville, KY
----- Original Message -----
From: Carol Ryan-Aube
> I wanted to write the result of my first firing of the glazes so I guess
> this is timely seeing that we are discussing the book again. My clay is a
> porceclain type.
Catherine White on thu 16 oct 03
Carol,
I immediately printed out your message to place in my book! This is a =
wonderful and succinct description of results. Thank you. If you have =
access to posting photos, I'd love to see them.
Catherine in 99=BA Yuma, AZ
Age is a very high price to pay for maturity.
----- Original Message -----=20
>I wanted to write the result of my first firing of the glazes so I =
guess
>this is timely seeing that we are discussing the book again. =20
> Carol Ryan-Aube
> Palmer, Alaska
John Hesselberth on thu 16 oct 03
Hi Carol,
Thanks for the detailed report. I'm delighted you are having such good
success on your first tries with the glazes. And you are more than
welcome--the book was a work of love and we are both so happy at the
response it has received we can hardly express our gratitude in words.
A couple comments interspersed below that might help.
On Wednesday, October 15, 2003, at 10:25 PM, Carol Ryan-Aube wrote:
>
> Light story blue was a lot greener that expected. It looked better
> dipped
> two times than once.
>
> Dark and Stormy Night Blue was a very medium blue when dipped two
> times but
> I did notice that it was a little greenen when it was dipped once or
> was in
> a spot that was thinner. Those were the only blues I tried.
These 2 glazes only differ in rutile level. The first has 4.5% and the
second 3.0%. Notice on page 101 that when I added 6% the glaze does go
green. I suspect your rutile is enough different than mine that you are
getting the color shift at a lower percentage. You might try doing a
line blend from 0-6% and see what works best with your rutile. You
might even find the color that we called Caribbean Sea Green at, say,
5-5.5% instead of 6%.
>
> I used Glossy Base Glaze 2 as a clear glaze liner. It worked better
> when I
> poured it two times. When I poured it once there was a lot of
> cracking.
If, by cracking, you mean crazing then you have a clay body at one end
of the spectrum of what we normally see. You would do well to run the
'fit' series in Chapter 5--at least 1,2, and 3-- and see where your
clay body is. You might even want to use one of those that fits the
best--it might even be #1 with your body--as your clear liner instead
of Glossy Base 2.
Good luck. You have made a great start and will undoubtedly do even
better as you gain experience with mixing your own glazes.
Regards,
John
http://www.frogpondpottery.com
http://www.masteringglazes.com
Carol Ryan-Aube on thu 16 oct 03
John - Thanks for the advice. I will try adjusting the rutile.
Elzbieta - It would be nice to hear how other people's glazes come out when
they are finished.
Catherine - I would love to show you the glazes but I have no digital
camera, scanner or web page. I feel like Malcolm! :) Even if I had the
equipment, I guess I would be a little embarrassed being a newbie and having
experts looking at my pottery - that would be very intimidating. Even
writing on Clayart is very humbling.
Thanks - Carol
>Carol,
>Thanks for your great post. I love to hear how people's tests turn out. I,
>too, have all the ingredients for trying the MC6 Glazes, but haven't had
>the
>time to try them yet. I'm saving your post.
>Thanks so much, Ezbieta
>
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Janice M. Boyd on fri 17 oct 03
Cool, Carol! It sounds like I've tested many of the same glazes as you
have, and following your example, I'll post my results.
I'm working with a cone 4-7 stoneware called "Speckled Tan Clay" from
Columbus Clay Company. Unfortunately, I don't know too much about the
firing (I do my work at an art center, and share kiln firing space). The
kiln is supposed to be firing to cone 6. From talking with the person in
charge of things, I think the cool down times are tending more towards the
rapid than the slow, due to pressure to get many classes worth of clay
fired. I volunteer there, and am learning to be a general do-anything
fix-it person in the studio, in the hopes that someday *I'll* get to run the
kiln...Then I'll do some nice slow cooling, to get the best effects. Even
without that, I am very satisfied with the results I've gotten. Each time I
do some test batches I am thrilled to see what I get, and some of the glazes
have been stunners.
OK so here's my results:
Hi Calcium semimatte:
Oatmeal - dark tan on my clay. Where thin, satin matte, semi-opaque.
Thicker application is more of a glossy brown (this reflects the faster
cool-down, probably).
Variegated Gray Slate Matte - My all time favorite glaze. Nice variegated
color, glossy (fast cool down), very similar to the picture in the book.
Opaque to semi-opaque. That was one test. Then things get interesting.
On another glaze test, with thinner application (and possibly less complete
mixing) I got a lovely deep satin green, with blue only showing up when
thick. Same kiln load as the first piece. On a plate, I got green and
black, glossy. I'm thinking that perhaps the cobalt didn't get resuspended
completely and the copper did, and that is accounting for the color shift
towards the green. I'll be testing some variations of the cobalt/copper
proportions to see if I can duplicate this.
Rutile Blue tests:
Carribean Sea Green (6% rutile, 1% cobalt carb) - Glossy light green,
complex rutile-y look, breaking darker where thin. Opaque when thick. Very
similar to the photo in the book when applied thickly.
Bright Stormy Blue (4.5% rutile, 1% cobalt carb) - Glossy, sparkle-y bright
blue and opaque where thick. Brown clay shows through when thin.
Eye-popping color, maybe best to use in moderation.
Dark and Stormy Night (3% rutile, 1% cobalt carb) - AHA. here I think I
know the reason behind some folks' olive drabs. I made this one up first
and put in what i thought was the correct amount of water. Wrong-O.
Applied thin, thin, thin, thin. It is rough, drab, olive. Get rid of two
thirds of the water, and voila! it is a blue glaze.
RE water additions -- the hi calcium semi matte glazes above required 3X the
water as the rutile blues. The hi calcium glazes stay in suspension better,
too. Rutile blues hardpanned, so I think I'll add bentonite when I try them
(or variations in the zinc base) next time.
My all-time two favorite pieces:
a lidded vessel I glazed in Variegated Gray Slate Matte, with overlapping
Oatmeal. Green outside, blue inside, nice brown rim.
a pot with splashes of all the rutile blues running all over it. I was
using up the dribs and drabs from the glaze test containers. It's not
exactly restrained, but *I* like it! :-)
If I get my camera working, I'll try to post pics.
Janice
Susan Fox-Hirschmann on wed 22 oct 03
Thanks Ron for all your help....over the past few months.
Gotta tell you (and the clayart world)--that
your Raspberry, Slate Blue (green) and Waterfall Brown, as well as the
Spearmint are DELICIOUS glazes.
Susan
Annandale, VA
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