Controlling Drippy Glaze

[baetanical]

Hi all,

I'm working with a dippable premixed glaze 'Rhubarb' by Coyote, which tends to have quite dramatic drips when fired.  The weird thing is that between different firings, it's dripping in very different ways even though I try to have the same exact conditions.  I typically dip three times because when I do less, the color tends to be very faded and I apply it over a white glaze.  Cone 6.

1.  Is there anything I can do to limit the amount of drip without losing vibrancy?  Either adding something to the glaze or applying it differently?

2.  Any idea why the drips are forming distinct lines (which I don't like) and sometimes coming down more as a whole (which I prefer)?

I've contacted Coyote and they're not sure why either.  Any help would be appreciated!

James

[Chilly]

No help for you I'm afraid, but I love the drippy one.

[Sputty]

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[baetanical]

Thanks, Sputty!  Yeah, that'd be the best way to describe it: sheet flow vs drip flow.  I'm really about that sheet flow.  It's also interesting that the pot on the right has drips so consistently spread apart.  I have another firing tonight so I'm going to try to fire slower and see if that changes anything.

Enjoyed the article, though I somewhat glazed over when it became too technical

[Sputty]

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[Min]

Another approach would be try a stiffer base glaze in place of your white glaze.  The stiffer glaze will act like putting the brakes on to slow down the flow. If it doesn't flow enough you could try the rhubarb alone for the top area of the pot and a stiffer white glaze for the bottom part. I don't use commercial glazes but from the Coyote website one like this would be a stiff glaze. They are recommending it for majolica type work so it shouldn't move.

[GEP]

To my eye, the “sheet flow” sample has a lot more rhubarb glaze than the “drippy” sample. Enough glaze to fill in all the spaces in between the drips, and still look more opaque overall. I know you said you are trying to keep your conditions consistent. Can you be more specific? The things I would think about are:

Make sure the white glaze is completely dry first. If it’s damp to any degree, it will absorb less rhubarb.

Make sure the rhubarb is mixed to the same specific gravity each time.

Make sure dips are timed consistently. Are those one-second dips? Five-second dips? Whatever they are, for some glazes an extra second or two makes a big difference.

[neilestrick]

Those glazes are made for brushing, not dipping, which is why it takes 3 dips to get enough color on it. Brushing glazes have a higher water content, so with each dip there's less actual glaze material being deposited on the pot than with a glaze that is mixed for dipping. For any glazes that you dip, I would check to see if you can buy it as a dry mix that you can mix up as a dipping glaze (just add water, none of the additives for brushing). You'll be able to control the thickness of the glaze application much better that way.

[Babs]

looks like to me you have carved dented out pot with the vertical dips, the thicker parts may have absorbed more glaze and so more to run and thus the even spacing of vertical runs