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Amaco "Potter's choice" glazes


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Anybody has an experience with AMACO"s "Potter's choice" glazes?

They are supposed to be fired at ^5-6

 

I fired tile samples at ^5+ and they all look so ugly! (PC-20 PC 53)

Just dark grey colors, not even close to what it looks on the pictures.

 

I also had the same bad experience with Laguna stain.

 

Any words of wisdom?

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I have used them for several years firing 5-6. Not sure why they are not working for you especially the PC 20. Go back to the web site and read instructions carefully again; you might have an application problem. I usually thin down my jars with a little water, some of the glazes are really thick. Now Antique Jasper...this one is often tough to get right. I put it on really thick at least 3 coats after previous coat is dry then I "splotch" over the third coat using a thick brush and dabbing the glaze in no set pattern. Here is a recent Antique Jasper:post-6443-136936169911_thumb.jpg

post-6443-136936169911_thumb.jpg

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Are you mixing well , the glazes settle , And need a stirring and even scraping bottom with back of wooded spoon, once mixed well we've thinned with water. I'm pleased,with series you also have to take into account different clay bodies. The one I tested differed from sample photos. But to my advantage I liked them more.

 

I've tried ancient jasper

Temoku

Shino

 

I think these glazes excel when you layer, they have extensive samples on line.

 

What's fun is when you start to experiment with layering glazes outside of amaco potters choice line.

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Are you mixing well , the glazes settle , And need a stirring and even scraping bottom with back of wooded spoon, once mixed well we've thinned with water. I'm pleased,with series you also have to take into account different clay bodies.

 

 

I will check on that too.

 

Would it make a difference that I use a downdraft vent, so I have all my peep-wholes and the lids closed tight?

Besides, I live at a high elevation (3800 feet)

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PC-20 Blue rutile is a very nice blue, i use it and i have very nice results every time, if i do it really thin i get a nice brown wash.

If you have applied 3 coats then I can think that you are not firing at the right temperature, check it out with cones to make sure

you are reaching ^5 or ^6

Good Luck.

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I adore my potters choice glazes. I've got tons of them. You have to apply THICK. I've never seen any of them go on too thick, but its easy to go too thin. I fire mine to cone 6 and they turn out great. Under-fired they look muddy, and I once had a load get over-fired (guessing about cone 7) and they all looked muddy and had a brownish tint to them.

 

 

I've got:

-Olive speckle

-sienna speckle

-ironstone

-iron lustre

-blue rutile

-midnight blue

-tourmaline

-temmoku

-indigo float

-frosted melon

-deep firebrick

-seaweed

 

maybe some others I've forgotten. I'm a glaze impulse buyer. You get some suprising results by layering, and in my experience, nto always what the amaco test pages show.

 

And I second layering with other glazes. My all-time favorite glaze is now a layer of amaco sahara oatmeal over ironstone. Looks like ancient jasper, but it turns out right every time ;)

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Anything but the wrong cone. I am using pyrometric cones. The kiln is new and has a tendency to overfire. The cones were showing ^5+

So, it has nothing to do with the elevation? (A little less oxygen in the air, different barometric pressure)

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Anything but the wrong cone. I am using pyrometric cones. The kiln is new and has a tendency to overfire. The cones were showing ^5+

So, it has nothing to do with the elevation? (A little less oxygen in the air, different barometric pressure)

 

 

Not that I've seen, but I'm not the expert on that sort of thing.

 

My guess would be that you simply didn't apply the glaze thick enough. Once you apply what you think is enough, put on like 2 more sloppy coats. I've never seen too much glaze with these.

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(So, it has nothing to do with the elevation? (A little less oxygen in the air, different barometric pressure)

This is a red herrring-

 

Nothing to do with that-application and firing schedules and temps and clay bodies-thats where to look.

Electric firing should be the same in Reno as down here by the sea-only thing is we have trees all around.

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None of my tile samples worked, I made them all with three coats, I tried 4 and 5 coats on my pots which have all turned out well except for running, especially the ancient jasper.

 

This first one has 5 coats, as you can see there was a lot of running but the colour is perfect.

post-6972-136941427719_thumb.jpg. Hahaha this is a funny glitch no matter what I do this photo won't post upside right . . . Sorry

 

This one has four coats, less running colour is still okay but still some drips.

post-6972-136941433624_thumb.jpg

 

when I did the three coats it was like you said muddy all of theses were fired to cone 6, all holes and lid closed tight and I have a down draft vent.

 

 

The frosted melon worked very well this has 5 coats and no drips or runs but when I fired the test tile I had a pot glazed in misty mountain blue next to it and the frosted mellon got some yellowing, I thought it looked fine but if you don't want that on your pot you should be carful what you fire next to it.

post-6972-136941501461_thumb.jpg

 

The olive speckle needed a thick coat as well, this plater started off with four coats and the streaking was terrible sorry i don't have a photo of that but I decided to put another coat of glaze over the already fired piece and refired it, this is what I got . . . I might try another coat and another fire tho

post-6972-136941528688_thumb.jpg

 

This one is glazed in smokey merlot I think it's called, I'll go look and update that if I'm wrong, I have four coats on this the three coated tile test was muddy

post-6972-136941575723_thumb.jpg

 

I have a bunch more and a few layering photos if you want I can post those too but but it seems to me the four or 5 coats is what is required with all the Potters choice glazes I have . . . Now maybe what I personally think is a thick coat is actually thin by Potter's Choice standards and that's why I need to put more . . .

 

The other colours I have are fire brick, palladium and Art Deco green

 

If you are going to layer you might even want to try more than 4 coats like for example the bowl in this photo is glazed with 2 coats of frosted melon and 2 coats of firebrick I personally don't like it and might try putting another coat of firebrick or even something else just to experiment. . . .

post-6972-136941658181_thumb.jpg

post-6972-136941427719_thumb.jpg

post-6972-136941433624_thumb.jpg

post-6972-136941501461_thumb.jpg

post-6972-136941528688_thumb.jpg

post-6972-136941575723_thumb.jpg

post-6972-136941658181_thumb.jpg

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The inside of my bowls I poured in the glaze, rolled it around and then poured what was left into an old failed mug and use that to glaze the outside.

 

On the outside of the pots I used small to medium sized Japanese Hake brushes and brushed my glaze on. I dip my bush in the glaze and slosh it around good, the hard part is resisting the urge to wipe the brush off on the side of the cup I put my glaze in. Having the brush dripping with glaze on both side of the brush will get a couple nice thick strokes in before needing to dip my brush again. I brush each coat on in a different direction, brushing horizontal, vertical, diagonal then horizontal again making sure each coat is good and dry before putting on the next coat.

 

Here is what my glazing brushes look like, they are speendy but they really do soak up a lot. I got my brushes two years ago when I got my home studio set up and they are still working well for me but I'm just a hobbiest and not a production potter so I'm sure that makes the difference.

post-6972-136943067187_thumb.jpg

post-6972-136943067187_thumb.jpg

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Just got another tile samples out of the kin:

Yep, that was the application! I had one tile with 3 coats on and then dipped twice, and it finally looks better than the previous attepmts.

It definitely requires REAL thick application.

 

Thank you for your help everybody!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you for all your help! Especially Jo-Ann. This is what I've got so far:post-19169-137040744677_thumb.jpg

Now I have to learn how to apply Antique Jasper unevenly (manufactory's recommendation)

 

Love this combo. What is on top? And is it layered over the Ancient Jasper?

 

 

Blue Rutile at the top (4 thick coats)

Ancient Jasper at the bottom.

No layering. Maybe just a little bit where these two meet each other, but I do not see the effect of that at all.

post-19169-137040744677_thumb.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just unloaded my first firing with ancient jasper layered with my usual glazes.

these have Alberta Slip glaze inside and out with Ancient Jasper dipped a few times on top 1/3rd.AJalbertamugs,jpg.bmp

One without any red has Steven Hills Hanas fake ash dipped on top.

 

 

Oh beautiful glaze comb, I love it!

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I just fired a half dozen pieces to ^6 using the PC20 as a base coat with Palladium, Chun Plum, and Vert Lustre as topcoats on different pieces of Soldate 60 clay. The colors were darker than in their ad, and I'm attributing that to the clay.  One thing I did find out was that you do not want to use the PC4 Palladium as a base coat. I put it under the PC20 Blue Rutile as an experiment on a mug. The colors blended but were kind of a muddy dark blue and the glaze ran to the point where I had 5 gross drips at the bottom of the mug. The interesting thing here was that the drips were all the silver color associated with the Palladium telling me that the Palladium as a base coat was NOT the way to go. The glazes held together well with the Blue Rutile as the base coat.

My next attempt using these colors for layering will be on B-mix clay, and I'll be thinning the top coats to see what happens.

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