sgagnard Posted March 2, 2018 Report Share Posted March 2, 2018 Hello all, I'm new to the group and to pottery. I've been using the glazes at the place where I have a membership, but would like to experiment with some other colors on my own. I wanted to order some Laguna Purple Surprise for my wife and according to the mixing instructions it looks like you mix the powder with 8-11 ounces of water to 1 pound of glaze powder http://www.lagunaclay.com/glazes/dry-glaze-mixing.php. My question are as follows: For a beginner, how much should I mix up (gallons) for dipping? If I decided to mix up a 3 gallons of glaze, does not mean that I would need 40-50 lbs of glaze powder? What am I missing? Thanks in advance to helping a Noob. Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Min Posted March 2, 2018 Report Share Posted March 2, 2018 10 kilos of glaze powder makes approximately a 5 gallon bucket of glaze with enough space at the top of the bucket for glaze displacement so you can dip pots without overflowing. If there is a lot of clay in the recipe it will make a bit more, glaze with a lot of frit a bit less. So for the sake of argument say 12 kg for 5 gallons therefore would be 7.2 kg or approximately 16 pounds for roughly 3 gallons of glaze. Using commercial glazes can get expensive, is there any way to try out a smaller amount of this glaze first? Welcome to the forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgagnard Posted March 2, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2018 Min thanks for the reply! I'm just making small stuff right now, mugs and bowls so I don't know exactly how much to start with. I figured 3 gallons would be enough to start with and enough to dip my pieces. I don't kn ow if my calculations were off or they suggest a higher concentration of powder to water. 16 pound certainly sounds more reasonable. Thanks again for the reply. I did by a hydrometers so maybe I'll order 16 pounds and go from there. I don't think I'm ready to venture into mixing my own glazes yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callie Beller Diesel Posted March 2, 2018 Report Share Posted March 2, 2018 If you're looking to test out a new glaze, 1 kg of dry glaze (and water accordingly) in an ice cream pail is enough to be able to dip small items like mugs, but not a huge investment if it turns out to be a colour or texture you didn't like working with after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jafa5 Posted March 3, 2018 Report Share Posted March 3, 2018 Hey sgagnard, New potter here too. I havn't bought any glazes yet but making my own or making up given recipes. For my initial tests I make 100ml (metric sorry and not sure on conversion) which is enough for few small cup forms to test in different parts of the kiln. If it's good I make up 1 or 2kg batches which is enough to dip easily. I mostly use that batch size because I have a number of 4 litre plastic pales from the local bakery, so convenient. It also means I don't have too much of a single glaze. Downfall is that you have to mix it more often which can be time consuming when you want to fire them now. If you know you like the glaze and have the storage capacity, I'd buy bulk and save some money, then mix as much as you can fit into your pales. Really nice to have it ready to go and only need a mix up. I'm making bigger batches of a few base glazes that I can mix and draw off a litre to make additions with oxides or stains. Working well for me anyway. Cheers, Liam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgagnard Posted March 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2018 Just wanted to say thanks to all that replied. I think I'll order 10 lbs. The studio that I have a membership to uses this glaze (in larger quantities) and hopefully I can track down the guy that mixes it for them and he can give me a hand. If not, I'll give it a try on my own thanks to your suggestions. Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callie Beller Diesel Posted March 5, 2018 Report Share Posted March 5, 2018 Also, get used to thinking in metric for your glaze batches. It is by far and away easier to deal with all the percentages when you're using base 10 math rather than weird fractions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Min Posted March 5, 2018 Report Share Posted March 5, 2018 7 minutes ago, Callie Beller Diesel said: Also, get used to thinking in metric for your glaze batches. It is by far and away easier to deal with all the percentages when you're using base 10 math rather than weird fractions. And measuring in mm and cm rather than inches or fractions of inches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted March 5, 2018 Report Share Posted March 5, 2018 (And measuring in mm and cm rather than inches or fractions of inches. ) yes think this way no mater where you live.Much easier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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