Amaco Liquid underglazes

[spiffypix]

Hi everyone - please excuse me if I have miscategorized this post.

I recently purchased Amaco liquid underglazes.  At the community studio where i used to throw, they used their Velvet underglazes.  I was under the impression that the LUGs were better, but upon looking at the glazes in the bottles, the colors of the LUGs look very washed out.  The velvets seem much more robust in color.  I thought it was supposed to be the opposite?   Does anyone have a before/after photo(s) of LUGs , pre fire/post fire?  I’ve used a couple of them on greenware but still waiting to do a bisque fire.  Thanks 

[liambesaw]

I like the velvet underglazes more, I think it's personal preference as far as which is "better"

[spiffypix]

Thanks Liam, have you ever used the LUGs?  I’m just wondering if they fire differently than how they appear when applied.  For instance, here is the ‘dark blue’ in the bottle.  But i can’t imagine that they are considering that a dark blue.  So wondering if it fires darker.  With the Velvets, what you see is what you get.  

[oldlady]

powdered cobalt carbonate is that color and it can fire almost black.   trust the label until you know more.

[liambesaw]

Yep, you can check their website for a test tile showing with and without clear glaze as well

[neilestrick]

Many blue glazes and underglazes use raw cobalt, which is pink or purple in color. It won't go blue until it's fired. Most other underglazes use stains, which are basically the same color before and after firing. Underglazes can change color a bit depending on which glaze you are putting over them, though. It's best to run a test first before committing to putting them on your work.

[Bill Kielb]

All very correct above. Just to add the color in the bottle is rarely the exact color of the final fired product. Test tiles from the manufacture and also careful reading of the label of each bottle often reveals notes such as “May appear darker / lighter when fired above cone ___ “   Each bottle may have a note as colorants often react differently to firing.

Most of our brush artists develop a test pallet where they have all their fired colors (to their desired cone) on a single test tile most often with half the sample unglazed and half the sample glazed  using their favorite clear. This is just to see the fired color and the impact of glaze on the final color.

as they paint they try and pick the highlights and  finished color by referring to their test tile often ignoring the unfired painted color as they go.  

[JohnnyK]

Would I be correct in guessing that you own all the LUGs in the basket? If so, how many of them have you already used? As Neil has suggested, run tests in the environment you plan on using them so you know what to expect when you fire them.

JohnnyK

[spiffypix]

Thanks to everyone for their great advice.  A test tile will definitely be the direction that I take.  Yes, Johnny, I own all of the LUGs in the basket and have only used a few to this point.  And I have yet to fire a piece, as I am at the mercy of the community studio’s firing schedule.  :/

I have definitely checked out the test tile photos online provided by Amaco, but I find I have more success in judging an appearance when seeing it on an actual piece.  I feel like I have a poor perspective when only seeing that isolated tile swatch.

Thanks again to everyone!

PS: for the record, half of these LUGs I got free of charge, thanks to my $100 glaze rebate from Amaco.  

[neilestrick]

Make a plate, and put a stripe of each underglaze color on the rim. You'll have all your tests in one place for easy reference.

[Bill Kielb]

Dont forget an index!