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Glaze Problem


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Hi All,

 

I attached an image of one of my HS students pieces that recently had a terrible shivering problem. We use low fire clay and glazes. This beige glaze you see shivering off the piece is called "birthday suit" from the Mayco stroke and coat series. It seemed to only shiver off her piece particularly. A few other students had some tiny shivering issues with this glaze, but nothing even close to this. This level II student was almost in tears over what happened. Anything that can be done about it now? Can it be re-glazed and fired? If so, what do you recommend...

post-12439-0-86454200-1418217471_thumb.jpg

post-12439-0-86454200-1418217471_thumb.jpg

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Looks like one of two problems. Glaze fit, where the glaze is not matching the expansion/contraction of the clay, or glaze applied two thickly or at different times and the drying caused an uneven buildup of glaze.

 

How long did the pot sit in the studio before glazing after bisquefire? Was the pot cleaned with a damp sponge inside and out just before glazing?

 

What method/s do you use to apply glaze? Brushing, dipping, pouring? What is the thickness of the glaze? Have you run test tiles of the glaze on different clay bodies?

 

These questions are just starting points on how to get around this sort of disaster happening again. You could try to reglaze the area, but I really don't think it will work.

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I have had similar experience lately with Mayco Stroke and coats on Low fire talc - this is the combo i use for young kids classes. It was successful for about a year with zero fit issues and then the shivering started. . . here and there on some pieces - not all pieces - I couldn't see a rhyme or reason for it.

 

I did some adjusting to how hot we bisque vs glaze fire - previously we bisqued at ^08 and glaze fired at ^04 - now I bisque and glaze fire at ^05 and It seemed to have stopped the past few months - I didn't make any other drastic changes - just was more aware to really clean bisque pieces before glazing and it seems to have worked.

 

I would try to re glaze and re fire - I have done so in the past - not often with success but when a student is so heartbroken why not try. . . What I find to work for the reglaze is to sand or scrape any glaze off you can and heat the pot up - we do this with a hair dryer - and glaze making sure to fully dry in-between coats. Sometimes it works! Good luck.

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Am I missing this Crack??

Right got it.

How do the Irish spell crack/ This is a serious question.

There is a habit amongst Brits,(males)  re.hanging out at Barber's shops. I asked my friend once why it took so long to get a shave or haircut, and the reply was that he just sat around because he enjoyed the crack.WELL Having established that it was not some illicit stuff, i could not find that definition in the dictionary, think it is spelt, is that the grain of the matter?, differently. Does anyone know.

Apologies to the poster.

Never seen such an imbalance in glaze fit. 

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I had a similar issue, with one student's piece.  Certain spots would pop off.  I had her reapply the glaze, still happened.  I had her sand down the body, reapply the glaze, and it still happened.  I refired it about three times.  No luck,.  Sometimes the glaze would come off, when handling, but it would also pop off, on its own.  It didn't happen with any other project. 

It was just odd.

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Thank you all for the advice and tips. If I had to narrow it down, I'd say it was too thick of an application and there's a small possibilty the surface had dust on it etc. and wasn't properly cleaned. It's annoying because I did test the glaze beforehand, it fired well. Just bizarre that out of all the projects using this specific glaze, it only happened to this one. I have been using amaco glazes for 10 years with my students, I never had any issues like this. It's a shame, it took my student almost a month to complete this project. 

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