mel jacobson on mon 16 jan 06
i have used rhodes 32 for almost 50 years.
about 60 percent of all my pots get that glaze in
one form or another. it sells like crazy.
rhodes published that recipe years back in his book`clay and glazes for the potter`.
david shaner made that glaze for him and tested it
in 1959 or so as a grad student at alfred university.
david and i have laughed about that glaze on more than
one occasion. (david died a few years back...a real
giant in ceramics.)
the glaze was developed to cover a dark iron bearing body.
and, he meant dark iron body. david was exactly my age.
born in the same year...he also started out teaching junior
high school and he re/cycled all the amoco iron bearing mid range clay
that was left all over the art room
.
he added some fire clay to it, and used it for his own work.
so did i. irony. it made a nice cone 10 experimental clay.
and it decreased the cost of commercial clay...and there was
no `minnesota clay` at the time...we had to make do.
(a guy named nick brantz was making clay in an old dough mixer
in his garage and that became minnesota clay.)
i have given that recipe to hundreds of people, now thousands.
we have no idea how many people rhodes gave it to from his
book.
on more than one occasion i have had a potter tell me/
`you ass, that is an awful glaze...looks like white chalk.
what did you leave out of the recipe?`
they always forget...`CLAY BODY INFLUENCES GLAZE`
no iron in your body and rhodes 32 looks like crap.
without a deep iron body, medium to rich reduction in a gas
kiln the glaze looks like crap. if you do not get cone 10 over
the glaze looks like crap. if you apply it too thin, it looks like
crap. if you do not add a bit of silica or titanium to the glaze
it looks like crap. (also not as food safe.)
i layer it. anywhere from 2 -4 dips. 10 seconds in the
glaze bucket total works best. (how thick? sorta cream i think.)
i color the glaze with chrome and cobalt. or iron/rutile/ cover that with
a thin coat of base white rhodes 32. as the percentage
of oxide increases, so does the richness of the glaze if you
cover it with base white.
it all goes back to research. what clay, how thick, what layers?
what temp/how much reduction/ how do you read cones?
it all counts a great deal.
i discovered the glaze and how to use it by chance. it is a simple
glaze, easy to make and the ingredients have always been around.
i make it 50 gallons at a time. spread the glaze to five gallon
pails for color, use the base glaze right from the 50 gallon pail.
always big enough for that final dip.
i am still learning things about that glaze.
it changes often. just how i use it.
so.
if you want to use it. fine. just make sure you know/
you start yourself on a new adventure.
mel
from mel/minnetonka.mn.usa
website: http://my.pclink.com/~melpots3
Ivor and Olive Lewis on wed 18 jan 06
<like crap.
without a deep iron body, medium to rich reduction in a gas kiln the =
glaze looks like crap. if you do not get cone 10 over the glaze looks =
like crap. if you apply it too thin, it looks like
crap. if you do not add a bit of silica or titanium to the glaze it =
looks like crap. (also not as food safe.)>>
Dear Mel,
An interesting opinion and one I do not dispute. However, we are often =
told by the Clay and Glaze Gurus that high iron content in a clay body =
can lead to some interesting disasters; bloating, black coring, melt =
down at moderate temperatures.
So, can you put a percentage of Iron content that would remove the =
problems, allow a cone ten firing and get excellent results for Rhodes =
32. Ah yes ! I had a look on page 324. You are right about the need for =
silica though I can only imagine titanium would make it even more opaque =
unless you mean Ilmenite. I might have a play with it.
Best regards,
Ivor Lewis.
Redhill,
South Australia.
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