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Amaco "Potter's choice" glazes


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  • 2 months later...
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I a long time lurker here, never posted before but can answer the art teacher lady's question about PC glazes since I tried them this fall. They behave different, and while testing I broke the whole set of PC glazes I have got into categories of "base coat" and "second layer". For example, the blue rutile or sea weed glazes are quite runny and not so pretty on their own, I am using them as on top of some other glaze and leave 3/4 inch of space and/or have a groove close to the foot to stop them. While red firebrick or deep olive (not sure about exact name?) stay in pretty much in place, same for Amaco Celadons, I can be pretty bold with them :)

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This thread just wont die...

 

PC is some fun glaze to experiment with.. It gets real fun when layering with other companies glazes...

 

If your PC glazes have batch numbers on them, you have the newer glaze.. If it does not have them you may want to buy some amaco gum to add to your blues when layering. nothing to do with color , it just helps them "stick" better...

 

Celadons can hang better than Michael Jordon.. I have poured it on the inside of bowls really thick and the color just deepens... I actually like the Celadons better..

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  • 2 weeks later...

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

attachicon.gifimage.jpg

 

 

That is SO CRAZY (sorry, responding years later) but my Smoky Merlot looks totally different!

 

 sml_gallery_67168_947_517216.jpg

 

I agree with everyone who says 4-5 coats with Potter's Choice. Less and they look ugly and muddy. I have had only one of their glazes (Arctic Blue) bubble a little bit because of too thick an application. Otherwise it's almost impossible to put on too much. 

 

Does anybody dip these glazes? I'm thinking of switching over a few of my glazes to Potter's Choice and I'd like to know how they are to dip, what is the minimum quantity, etc. 

 

The Potter's Choice glazes I have currently or have used in the past (many of these can be seen in my gallery): 

 

Arctic Blue

Very pretty icy blue but put it on too thin and it turns a very unattractive yellow-brown. It is very nice layered over other glazes, and if applied thickly it runs a little bit. I've never had it run off a piece but I got some interesting movement around texture. 

 

Oatmeal

Lovely vanilla ice cream color but put it on too thin and it's the color of moldy straw. This one is a definite 4-5 coat glaze.

 

Smoky Merlot

This one actually just turns darker when applied thinner, more of a wine or burgundy. It's not the color I'm looking for but it's still a really nice color. At 4-5 coats you get a gorgeous light purple float with undertones of deep wine and a lovely chocolate brown break over texture. This is one of my favorite glazes. 

 

Deep Sienna Speckle

Deep Olive Speckle

These two, you have to be extra sure to mix WELL before each use. I apply 4 coats and sometimes I mix between coats. There are tiny little crystals suspended in the glaze that give it the brown speckles, and you want them to be evenly applied. This one doesn't seem to move at all. 

Blue Midnight/Seaweed (2 coats Blue Midnight under 1 coat Seawead = gorgeous!) The Seaweed can be a bit runny.

I've also seen a lot of their Celadon glazes in use. They're very beautiful but I like opaque or semi opaque glazes, so they're not for me.

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  • 3 years later...
14 minutes ago, John Zweber said:

Has anyone else had issues with the pc blue rutile glaze sloughing off during firing? I have adjusted bisque temp and checked and corrected the specific gravity with no help. 

Do you mean it is "Shivering"?

Does it look fine, before it goes into the kiln?

If the specific gravity is good, and the application isn't too thick, then it seems like it is a fit issue.  The clay is shrinking, more than the glaze, leading to the issue.

Pictures would help others troubleshoot the issue.

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Using continental b clay and have had nice results with other pc glazes. The glaze is sloughing off the pots during firing and making a mess of my shelves. I will find a picture but am really wondering if anyone else has had issues with this specific glaze...potters choice blue rutile.

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7 minutes ago, John Zweber said:

Using continental b clay and have had nice results with other pc glazes. The glaze is sloughing off the pots during firing and making a mess of my shelves. I will find a picture but am really wondering if anyone else has had issues with this specific glaze...potters choice blue rutile.

 

7 minutes ago, John Zweber said:

Using continental b clay and have had nice results with other pc glazes. The glaze is sloughing off the pots during firing and making a mess of my shelves. I will find a picture but am really wondering if anyone else has had issues with this specific glaze...potters choice blue rutile.

As you use PC glazes, you know that it is important to follow their application instructions, which are different for different colors.  When I once had trouble with a color- multiple times- I contacted Amaco for advice.

They were very conscientious in responding to me, asking all the details about the clay, the application, and the firing, asking for photos and all that.

As PC glazes need to go on very thick, I don't typically go all the way down to the bottom the piece, or at least not at the full thickness.

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Hey, John,,,in your photo there is no sign of the glaze running off the pots. Is it straight PC20 that you are using or are you layering it over something else? I've been layering it over and under many of the other PC colors with pretty consistent results on Laguna B-Mix ^5. What do mean by "sloughing off"? When it is used in the layering mode, it WILL run to a certain extent depending on how many layers you use. The only time I've had a problem with the PC glazes running excessively is when I put the Blue Rutile OVER PC4-Palladium. In this case the drips of the Palladium slipped out under the rutile but still looked pretty cool. Fortunately it didn't drip down to the shelf.

1023382138_DrippyMugsm.jpg.d5c7af9b243ae43b93b58bcbb7120057.jpgOn my next glaze run I'll do a pot with just the PC20 to see what effect I get.

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The glaze is not running off it is falling off the pots and onto my kiln shelves. If you look close at my photo you will see where the glaze has left the pot. I was told to try a hotter bisque and went to 06 and did thicken up the glaze by removing some water getting the specific gravity to 1.4 using the amaco calculation. 

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Hi John!

Problem is glaze running (drips, red arrows), and/or dripping off the pot onto the shelf (from where)? ...or crawling/moving (leaving bare clay, yellow arrows)?

Just curious.

Would a hotter bisque result in less absorption, hence thinner coating of glaze? ...and less water result in a thicker coating of glaze? Did less water prevail?

Looks like there is movement from the rim area (red arrows) where the glaze layer was thick; are you dipping the pots (rim first to get the outside?) to apply glaze? Perhaps that rim is holding a thick bead of glaze... likely several ways to deal with that...

where.JPG

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These bowls were double dipped using a tong and 5 gallon bucket of glaze. The glaze is not running it is sloughing off the pots during firing. I'm asking if anyone else has had that problem with the pc blue rutile glaze. See the following link and you will see how well the other pc glazes have worked.

 

https://www.facebook.com/rusticclay/?epa=SEARCH_BOX

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Nice pics on your fb page!

...looks to me that glaze is moving/running; are the drips (red arrows) visible after dipping (before firing?).

What you mean by slough - idk. 

To your question, I don't use pc glazes...

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