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Rutile Causing Serious Running In Glaze


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I was trying out the Alberta slip rutile blue glaze.

40% Alberta slip

40% Alberta slip calcined

20% Frit 3134

+ 4% Rutile

 

I tried a glaze with just the base, no rutile, and it turned out great, no running. Then on another column I have the glaze with the rutile and it runs like crazy, all the way down the column and it pools at the base.

 

My ceramics teacher has another similar glaze with a different recipe that looks almost the same and uses the same rutile mechanism to produce the variegated blue, but it works just fine without running. I thought I messed up the batch so I remade it and I still got the running, It's bizarre. I don't think rutile has caused problems like this in my other glazes. Why is this happening? What would decrease running, increasing the frit or decreasing the frit?

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No, you're correct: rutile does that in some cases. Normally it's fluxing action is pretty minor, but when you throw it in with iron, which there is a lot of in Alberta slip, they both flux out more than they normally would. This glaze is a bit problematic because it requires a thick application to work, which can exacerbate things. Also, the fluxing action is part of what helps create that floating part of floating blue, so adjusting the frit could reduce some of that really pretty effect.

 

Something that might help your issues would be to change Frits from 3134 to 3124. 3124 has more Alumina, which will make for a stiffer glaze.

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