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"sugary" glaze effect buttery cream satin matte

updated wed 28 apr 04

 

Alisa Liskin Clausen on tue 27 apr 04


>I am using a Buttery Cream Satin Matte glaze at cone 6 electric.
(Sometimes I use it with 3% cobalt carbonate as well.) Got it from a post
from Alisa Clausen (thanks Alisa!) nearly 2 years ago. I like this glaze
and use it on functional work, but not on work that comes in contact with
food (yet....). Sometimes it comes our with a sugary look, and feel. It
looks nice, rather sparkly and with tight crystals, but feels somehow
unfinished.
>
>Could someone lend some insight regarding this sugary effect -- is this
glaze slightly under- or over-fired? I use a programmed slow cool firing
cycle as recommended by John Hesselberth and Ron Roy in their book.
>
>Recipe:
>21 Dolomite
>10 Gerstely Borate (I use Gillespie Borate)
>9 Spodument
>5 Wollastonite
>27 Custer Fedlspar
>12 Neph. Syenite
>16 Kaolin
>


Dear Susan,
This is a glaze from John Hesselberth's site at Frogpondpottery.

The slower cooling ramps will give the glaze time to create small crystals
that sit tightly next to each other, on the surface of the glaze; thus,
creating an overall mat surface. Usually, in mat glazes, this is a desired
effect and the slower cooling is the way to achieve it. John and Ron have
told us that the small surface crystals is what should create the mat
surface, not just a mat effect from an underfired glaze. However, if you
are getting slightly larger crystals that seem more isolated, (if I
understand sugary) you may want to alter you cooling cycle. I personally
use a ramp for mat that has a hold at the top for 5 min, then naturally
cooled down to 800c, when I hold the temperature for one hour. John and
Ron's ramp proved to slightly overfire my glazes in my kiln. You may need
to experiment with cool down ramps, to get a smoother, satin mat surface
for this glaze.

regards from Alisa in Denmark