How Does One Create Your Own Glaze Colours?

[Elu Ceramics]

Hi there, i am struggling with dip glaze colours, how can one create unique colours with stains to dip large dishes into? how does it work, I have heard you can add a bit of stain to a base glaze? if so in what measurements, how does one experiment with this? I am looking at creating a range of pastel colours that work well at cone 6 (1200 Degrees F) on a white stoneware clay.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Candice.

[Marcia Selsor]

You need to add colorants to a base glaze usually for stains in the 1-15 percent. So you need a dry glaze, a scale, and some stains. 

Here is a link to the Ceramic Arts Daily Resources accessible from here by going to the upper left had corner.

You can search for help by topics if you scroll down the page.

 

http://ceramicartsdaily.org/ceramic-glaze-recipes/mid-range-glaze-recipes/expanding-your-palette-in-mid-range-firing/

 

There was a great article in Ceramics Monthly years ago by Mizuno about his pastel colors with stains. I think he used .5 to 25% depending on the intensity. The glaze recipe was for Mizuno clear.^6  I think it made it to one of the books on electric kiln firing. His piece was on the cover.

Other good resources are Richard Zakin's book on Electric kilns, Hesselberth and Roy's mastering ^6 Glazes, and John Britt's book on Mid Range glazes. Also Lana Wilson's book. She uses more right -brained approach to glazing. And yes it takes lots of testing. 

 

Marcia

[High Bridge Pottery]

 

[Celia UK]

Joel - when he says he starts with a 50x20 base glaze, what does that mean?

[High Bridge Pottery]

Joel - when he says he starts with a 50x20 base glaze, what does that mean?

 

He calls it the 20 by 5 glaze, pointing to some glaze, probably in the mid-fire book that has 5 ingredients each 20%. Had a quick look and it is called 'Hansen 20x5"

Feldspar - 20

Silica - 20

Wollastoite - 20

Kaolin - 20

Frit 3134 - 20

 

Same as the leach 4321 or whatever. The ratio of ingredients is in the name.

[oldlady]

elu, you might want to look at posts for mixing glazes.  the recipes tell you what proportions of each ingredient to use.  the quantities in each recipe usually adds up to 100 or close to it.  colors are created with the addition of oxides, carbonates or stains and usually shown as a percentage to add to the base glaze.  

 

the type of application (dipping, pouring, spraying, etc) is not really important until after the dry ingredients are mixed.  

[Celia UK]

Thanks Joel - my sieve-brain couldn't even remember the numbers correctly!