2Relaxed

Thank you Madeleine! I will take all these points into consideration.

Great, thanks Neil!

Ooooh, I think this article will help me a lot: https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/pottery-making-illustrated/ceramic-glaze-recipes/glaze-chemistry/an-introduction-to-color/#

Late to the party but Campana Grey might be what you're looking for.

Thank you all for replying, and Neil, thank you for the generous offer of Hyperglaze help. Callie, I like your idea of doing initial biaxials and then mixing them together, I hadn't thought of this approach. I haven't tried Mason stains before and don't really plan to at this point. I understand that the results may be more predictable than when using oxides but I'm feeling adventurous right now. So, when planning to use oxides in blends, which combos, do you think, I should try?

I have finally found a base formula that doesn't craze on my very capricious porcelaneous stone body. Mixed a 2000g batch without any additives. I want to create a few blends to see what colors I can get but I'm a bit lost here now. I've only done one triaxial blend before (with a different base formula), and with this one I want to try so many things. I'm looking for greys/blues/greens. Maybe a yellow or something close to it. Don't want anything in the brown/caramel range. I'm pretty sure they all will have to have about 5-6% of rutile based on the same base recipe I saw with colorants added. So, that leaves me with selecting oxides/carbonates. I'm thinking copper, cobalt and nickel, also RIO. I suppose if I want to add pinks/purples I'd have to use tin and chrome as well. There're so many variables though. How to systematize the approach to getting the colors I want? Is it better to do line blends? Biaxials? Triaxials?

What do you think would be a good substitute for "fluxes" that are commercially available, like Mayco's light/dark flux, or Amaco's Honey Flux? They're glazes on their own, and are marketed as something that can make a stable glaze move when applied in combination. So, I figure, they're similar to very fluid neutrally colored/uncolored glazes, am I right? Having been through ordeals of grinding bad glaze drips off my kiln shelves, I've been sticking to stable glazes. But they can be a little boring and sometimes I want to create a variance, without having to mix multiple buckets of new, more "interesting" glazes. Yes. I'll risk my kiln shelves for that. But I have a good supply of cookies, too.

Interesting, and you're probably right I don't remember it doing this before but maybe I just didn't pay attention to such a silly little thing. I'm on high alert now!! OK, I will assume that aside from the undefiring issue, which may not even have been real, we actually did fix this kiln!

One more update. After sitting unplugged for a while, the PF code shows up by default when I plug the kiln back in. I'm able to clear it and enter the program and start the firing cycle. Not sure what's up with this though...

Unloaded the kiln just now. I had a bunch of small, glazed low fire pieces on the bottom shelf; I single-fire them sometimes together with bisque. The glazes look mature on them, but still not a definitive confirmation of the temperature as they are for cones 07-03. Oh well. At least they're done for sure.

Update. I think we managed to fix it. My son replaced the super capacitor which was bad. Not sure why he discounted his own initial theory about capacitors but we did circle back to it and figured it was the one directly related to the PF code. The kiln has completed the previously unfinished bisque firing yesterday. However, it underfired by about 2 cones when it normally slightly overfires. Not a big deal for bisque, it probably ended up at soft cone 06, which is fine. But it would be a big deal for a glaze fire and now I don't know what to think of that! Was it because of the hot weather? Was it because the new capacitor is bigger than the old one? (even though it shouldn't be involved in temperature regulation, only in running the board while the power is out...) Any ideas? Also, I should say that I have used the same cones that were in the kiln when it gave me the PF code. I realize now that adding a new cone pack would probably have been a good idea but I hadn't done that... I think I'll have to do another bisque before I'm brave enough for a glaze fire! Min, thanks for the tip for the future! The new one at Greenbarn is about $500 as it turns out.

We checked all three and they appear to be fine. The transformer test shows correct voltage. Our next suspect is a chip on the board (or the circuit around it) that detects power failure.

Thank you Bill, I'll convey your insight to my so and research the controller prices here in Canada, I suspect they might be quite a bit more expensive here than 250-350! And will keep this thread updated with what help Skutt has to offer.

So... I got the code again today. Bisque fire to cone 04 and the kiln didn't reach the temperature this time. I emailed Skutt support, will see what they have to say. My son (an electrical engineer) is offering his help in fixing the issue. His theory is that it's the old capacitors that are to blame. The kiln is over 25 years old btw. I don't fire often, less than once a month and have had it for les than 3 years. Replaced all elements and thermocouple after I got it.

Yes, I always use at least one pair of witness cones, so fingers crossed. I will report back here.