laughlin Posted March 2, 2018 Report Share Posted March 2, 2018 I thought I'd maybe try a commercial ^6 glaze on a big stoneware bowl, but I'm currently working with a red clay and 99% of the online photos are showing results on a white clay body. I know I could slip it white before glazing, but has anyone had especially good results with a glaze/glaze combo on red clays? I've encountered some warnings re bad color and texture surprises, but not many ideas. This one (Highwater Red Rock) has manganese specks as well, just to complicate matters. Test tiles with commercial glazes is a pricey gambit! Dunno what I want to do with this surface, all ideas welcome. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughlin Posted March 2, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2018 (Sorry for double post - I can't see where to delete it.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabby Posted March 2, 2018 Report Share Posted March 2, 2018 I love my glazes on red clay, which do indeed look different than on white. I use a fair amount of Amaco Potters Choice and some Laguna glazes. What I did was took a pot that I had messed up in trimming, bisqued it anyway, and then did thick stripes of my different glazes all on the one piece. So now there is less surprise. Another thing I do on a piece sometimes is use a new glaze in a place I don't care about as much, as an accent, until I know what it really looks like. I am brushing on rather than dipping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aperhapshand Posted March 2, 2018 Report Share Posted March 2, 2018 Why are test tiles pricey? In my experience with commercial glazes, they seldom react like the pictures on the internet show - Red or white clay. There are so many variables that testing is important to me. That said I often "gamble" on smaller pieces like small sculptural work or the outside of a shot glass to get the feel for a glaze. If I have a large piece that I am especially proud of the form I will not risk it; time for a tried and true glaze or for it to sit on a shelf while I work it out. I can't take the heartbreak. I also find that the wasted kiln space for a large dud is crushing - but I have a pretty small kiln. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughlin Posted March 2, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2018 Pricey to buy a pint of glaze for every test, aperhapshand - for my very tight budget, anyway. And yeah, I was figuring on testing with a less important piece -I know people get a lot of surprises in any case. Was just hoping to narrow my options in case anyone had red-clay favorites. I wish there were photos out there of Amaco etc. on red clay - there just are not very many. Even in the big Amaco glaze forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aperhapshand Posted March 2, 2018 Report Share Posted March 2, 2018 Ahh!! I totally understand - pints do add up. I think Amaco Potter's choice would be your best resource to search - there is a facebook group that shares glazes on different clay bodies and on Amaco's website they show the glazes on different clay bodies (scroll down to see the charts ) https://www.facebook.com/groups/potterschoiceex/ https://www.amaco.com/t/glazes-and-underglazes/high-fire/potters-choice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughlin Posted March 2, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2018 Thanks, aperhapshand - I've visited those sites, not many on red but you've reminded me to comb again -hoping to find something inspiring before this crazy wind blows the power out. Where'd I put the dang candles? Wow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yappystudent Posted March 3, 2018 Report Share Posted March 3, 2018 Adding a photo of some test tiles featuring mainly Duncan underglazes tested on white, buff, brown and black clay bodies respectively. You can see how some glazes reacted pretty oddly with the manganese (upper left corner was not an underglaze but a low fire lead glaze called Jade). You can see how a speckled white reacted quite differently in the bottom left over different clay. I thought the underglazes in most cases looked much more beautiful on the dark clays. Quite a difference between dark brown and black also in reaction. At the time I didn't have a red clay to test. Sorry about the dark photo, I really need a new work lamp. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughlin Posted March 3, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2018 Thanks for posting the underglaze tests. I've used a lot of those for sgraffito but mostly on porcelain/porcelaneous stoneware. re PC glazes: I just happened to have the speckled red clay on hand. I found a few pics of Potter's Choice glazes on red/red speckled clay, and a few discussions, and it does look like it can complicate matters. I think I want to try an Obsidian/Seaweed/something else combination, and we'll just have to see what happens. I expect things to be maybe not so vibrant and a little less glassy on this claythan on white from the photos. Lots of variables, though. Still pretty. I like the really runny look. We'll see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bette Posted March 3, 2018 Report Share Posted March 3, 2018 I use IMCO's Navajo Wheel, a ^6 dark red clay. Some of the best commercial glazes that I have found retain strong color (although generally darker of course than shown in catalogues): Georgie's: Ohata, Nassau Blue Clayscapes: Coastal Blue, Cream Coyote: Shino, Oatmeal, Espresso, Sedona Sunset Laguna: Almond Spice Amoco: Deep Firebrick, Deep Olive Speckle I too wish commercial glaze makers would show their glazes on dark red clay as well as the usual whitish clay. Clayscapes does this on their website and I really appreciate it! Georgies has a board of test tiles with their glazes on dark red clay in their Portland store, but I have not yet seen this online or in their catalogue. I'd love to learn others' experience too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabby Posted March 4, 2018 Report Share Posted March 4, 2018 Laughlin, if I were not such an awful photographer, I would send you a photo of a cup I did using Seaweed on red clay. I think it looks really gorgeous and kind of like you would guess on red. It's obviously much darker than on white, with the brown undertones enhanced. Blue Midnight looks very similar on red as on white. Tourmaline looks much less green than on white, highlighting the turquoise aspect. Smokey merlot looks more violet than it does on white. Toasted sage for me looks pretty much the same on the two, which I would not have expected. Chun plum looks less tomato and more deep pink. Saturation gold looks bronze. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughlin Posted March 5, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2018 Thanks, Bette and Gabby! Bette, after I posted this I did come across those red clay pics on the Clayscapes website, really helpful. You can kind of make a better *guess* about how other similar glaze colors might react from studying those. Amaco puts so much time and energy into testing glaze combos and extensive marketing, you'd think they'd do likewise with clay combos. And Gabby, that was really helpful. I'm making a list. (Seaweed can be such a gorgeous glaze. It didn't go purple, I gather - I thought it might.) I'll make a ^6 'porcelain' bowl tomorrow and glaze 'em identically, and then get fatally hooked on chasing the commercial-glaze-layering dragon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughlin Posted March 6, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2018 Just found this - it's a VERY slow loading website but discusses results with different clay bodies of pretty much all of the Amaco PC glazes, with pictures. Handy! http://www.brackers.com/tag/layered-glazes/page/2/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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