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red underglaze


Mudpuddle

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Hi all.  Took a pottery hiatus for a long while. Now I am back and  pulling together an approach that might actually work for me. Instead of pursuing gas firing co-ops that are across town or even out of town, I plan to use Standard 257 porcelain and  stains in my electric kiln. 

So that gets me to  2 questions. I tried mason stains ..... 40 in all last week.   All were great except the reds. They were pink.  Beautiful pinks but certainly not red.  (zinc and calcium were not an issue here) Can anyone suggest an actual red underglaze  cone 9-10?    Fire engine red?  What about inclusion stains? Anyone tried this and found success? Coyote has one they say is smashing at cone 10.  Anyone tried it?

Next question is interesting as I do not have a strong glaze formulation background. I want a cone 9 transparent  clear satin mat or  satin glaze.  I have found many low fire and cone 6 but not in a 9 or a 10. I tried Glazy and then digital fire.  I suddenly had a pounding headache and needed some Pete's coffee.  Followed by a cookie. This does not bode well.

I actually have one in an old book by Emmanuel Cooper.  But realizing it might not work at all I am looking for one someone has used and found  successful.

Please do holler at me if you  have any ideas or suggestions

Thanks so much

 

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I don't have a satin clear recipe, but if you're going to be using underglazes and clear glaze, there's no good reason to fire to cone 10. You'll have far fewer problems with your underglazes, and your kiln and elements will last a lot longer if you work at cone 6. And your electric bill will be lower. Standard 365 cone 6 porcelain is every bit as good and white and translucent as the 257. There are lots of good red underglazes that work at cone 6.

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Hi Mudpuddle and welcome.

Like Neil  I"m also asking why cone 10 if you are firing electric? 

There are recipes out there for transparent satin matte glazes but they are an oxymoron. If a glaze is fully melted and mature it can’t be both transparent and matte. Mature matte glazes get their matte-ness from a microcrystalline structure in the glaze that scatters the light hitting it. If it is matte then it can’t be transparent at the same time. Many mattes are simply under fired gloss glazes. If you are doing nonfunctional pots this isn’t an issue but for functional ones the glaze needs to be both balanced and fired to maturity.

Spectrum Christmas Red is very red, I've taken it to a hot cone 7 and it's remained true. Haven't used it at cone 10.

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In the school studio (currently firing cone 10 reduction) we use  a commercial concoction called "Hot Tamale" as a red underglaze.  It has worked fine in Raku and in cone 10 reduction.  To my knowledge, it plays well with our glaze suite which includes clear, celadons, Vegas red, etc.   I have used it as an accent over shinos and several other glazes without technical problems. It is certainly a significantly more reliable red than any copper red we have used.
 
don't have anything re matte clear.   My suggestion is to take your glossy clear and increase the clay content to make it more matte and to slow down the cooling to allow the crystals to do their thing. 
LT
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For a red underglaze I use Amaco Radiant Red.  Stays nicely red.  For a glaze, I used to use Coyote's Really Red.  Stayed red to a hot 6.  Cannot help you if you are going to cone 10.  Amaco has a chart that give approximations of their Underglazes at low, mid, high firing.  Perhaps that will help.   Inclusion Mason stains  will stay bright to cone 6.  I have had good results with them.  

Roberta

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On 1/30/2018 at 5:50 PM, oldlady said:

i have hot tamale.  it is a Stroke and Coat which is a glaze.  have not used it on anything above cone 6 but it is really a bright red, glossy red at 6.

From Mayco's website...

No Fail Reds

Stroke & Coat® reds are the best on the market. Stroke & Coat® reds are the best on the market. SC-73 Candy Apple Red, SC-74 Hot Tamale and SC-87 Ruby Slippers fire true to standard every time and do not require special application or attention during firing.

These reds are great for kids and students and perfect for the potter looking for a red accent at cone 10.

 

I've seen it fired to cone 10,  cannot remember exactly how it turned out as it wasn't my pot at a community firing.  Just a little notation saying " Hot Tamale, A Red Red, needs heavy coat" 

Good luck,

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Hello again,

I must say thank you  so much!   to all of you who took your time to respond to my questions.  I was not expecting  so many thoughtful and helpful replies.   

Both Stroke and Coat, and Coyote  advise that 10 is not an issue. Some suppliers say cone 6 so I went to the mfg.  Still need to look into Spectrum  possibilities.  I could swear I got a no from Amaco maybe a month ago...........I think...........

I plan to order several of the reds just to see.........they will be accents. And the pieces nonfunctional.

Min it is great to understand the  inner working of the impossible satin matt clear. Sheesh.   I had a hole in my bucket and never even saw it! LOL

Underfired,  adding clay,  and cooling......    watch for clouding........... All of your ideas have given me much to consider.

Oh,  and guys thanks for  your  concern about my   firing methods and choices .  However  you  just don't realize that in DC I  have daily  opportunities to   reduce to cone 9 or 10, or even  occasionally do a wood firing.   It is a pain to bubblewrap a carload of bisque   to haul to a burn,   but I ain't giving it up!  Switching to cone 6  would  not work.

I will be sure to let you all know my outcomes. I suspect I will try several directions at once, as usual.

 

Thanks again. Off to strain, read or throw!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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