Shawn McGuire on sun 26 sep 04
Hello all,
I've been working with a lot of Albany sub. and Alberta glazes at ^5-^6 in
elec. ox., and getting a good amount of shimmering little crystals when I
control the cooling of the glaze firing. I love this look and would like to get
even more crystals. So my question is, can I soak at a certain temp. during the
cooling cycle to promote even more growth, or perhaps really slow the cooling
during a particular temp. range?? I do have a computerized kiln. I am going to
be firing a kiln load tommorow and any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
over-and-out,
~S~
william schran on sun 26 sep 04
Shawn wrote:> . So my question is, can I soak at a certain temp. during the
cooling cycle to promote even more growth, or perhaps really slow the coolin=
g
during a particular temp. range??<
I fire crystalline glazes to cone 6, a fast firing gets me to
1230-1250=B0C when cone 6 is over.
My holding temperature for crystal growth is 975-1000=B0C.
Bill
David Martin Hershey on mon 27 sep 04
Hi Shawn,
I don't really know anything about crystal glazes, but
I've recently been getting the same interesting tiny crystals that you are
getting with your Albany & Alberta slip glazes.
I am using various high iron glazes based on Laguna's Barnard slip
substitute. The effect seems more pronounced with stain colorants for me-
especially blacks.
I noticed I was getting more crystals when I started firing down from cone 5
at 500F/hr to 1900F. (before it had been 300F)
From 1900F I fire down at 125F/hr. My terminal temp had been 1500F. When I
changed it to 1400F, as suggested by John H., the crystals became much more
pronounced- almost like a field of tiny stars in my black.
This wasn't really the effect I was looking for,
but it seems to have real possibilities of its own-
especially since it doesn't run like "real" crystal glazes.
Interestingly, I got the most crystals so far
when testing a line blend between my
Barnard sub and one of Ron & John's glazes.
What colorants & firing schedules are you using?
Are you spraying, dipping or brushing?
Are you ball milling your glazes?
Best,
DMH
Beautiful Hermosa Beach CA USA
> Hello all,
> I've been working with a lot of Albany sub. and Alberta glazes at ^5-^6
in
> elec. ox., and getting a good amount of shimmering little crystals when I
> control the cooling of the glaze firing. I love this look and would like
to get
> even more crystals. So my question is, can I soak at a certain temp.
during the
> cooling cycle to promote even more growth, or perhaps really slow the
cooling
> during a particular temp. range?? I do have a computerized kiln. I am
going to
> be firing a kiln load tommorow and any advice will be greatly appreciated.
> Thanks.
> over-and-out,
> ~S~
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