[Best ways to add color to crazing in glaze post-fire?]

On 2/23/2024 at 5:03 AM, Babs said:

Were your pots warm when you wiped? If not you may not be getting as much ink in the craze lines.

This is a great point I've never considered that, I'll try warming my pieces up in the future and see what happens. Thank you!

 

 

On 2/23/2024 at 1:54 PM, Min said:

There is an old thread linked below where a few different methods are used, including tattoo ink and china paints. 

 

I'll read through this, thank you for sharing!

 

 

On 2/24/2024 at 11:11 AM, Hyn Patty said:

They are probably using alcohol inks.  Which are FAR brighter than normal inks.  But beware - alcohol inks tend to fade badly with UV exposure over time.  That may be less an issue with the glaze itself to help filter out some UV but you might find that in a decade the ink could use a new application to freshen up the color.  You'd do better to just use the more stable fade-proof inks as you are, or even better, rub that down with thinned china paints into the cracks and then just fire it.  Then you KNOW it's permanent and won't fade or wash out over time.  You can get the color of your choice and simply thin it with alcohol, then dab it into the cracks.  Buff off any extra and then fire to the standard 016 or so, whatever your china paint calls for that particular color.  

SUPER NIFTY alternative for a more Japanese look?  Rub down all the cracks with GOLD or white gold luster, then buff off any external residue, then fire THAT.  Particularly over a dark glaze that looks amazing!  Or use a thinned gold or silver paint if you don't want to deal with the toxic burn off and cost of actual gold lusters.  Trick of course is to get it thinned enough.  Wider your crazing cracks the better.  If they are SUPER fine then you may have a hard time using the niftier alternatives.  But worth a try on a test piece.  Different kinds of crackle glazes can give you finer or coarser crackling.  If the crackle is too fine to get your stain materials into it, try soaking the whole thing in the stain of your choice over night.  Or your crackle may just be too fine to absorb anything but pure inks.

Just be sure if you want to use the items for food, the crackle has to go on the outside ONLY and not inside where food may be in contact.  Crackles will trap bacteria.  Or better still, use crackles for non-food uses, ideally with a fully vitrified clay so there won't be porosity where water can seep in and cause the clay to break your glaze off later like it does with earthenware.

Yeah, I would like the coloring to last as long as possible. 10 years is pretty long but permanent is ideal. I'll give the china paints and luster a shot and see what happens.  Thanks for all the info and such a detailed reply!
 

[Best ways to add color to crazing in glaze post-fire?]

Hey everybody! I recently discovered the technique in which color is added to the cracks in glaze post-firing by wiping the piece down with ink. I bought what I believe is a good brand of India ink and have gotten some results that I'm pretty happy with, but some of the pieces that I've seen other artists produce seem to have much bolder and brighter coloring.  A few things I have considered are the size of the crazing, which I'm sure will allow for more or less ink to be deposited, as well as the color of the glaze and the clay body to provide contrast to the ink., but I don't think these factors answer all of my questions. 

I'm wondering if there is something other than india ink being used that can provide bolder and more vivid coloring, or maybe there is some other aspect of the technique I'm missing?

[Re-creating a happy accident glaze]

On 7/22/2023 at 9:28 AM, Rae Reich said:

I have had buckets of Mistake glazes, also Mystery glazes - bags of unknown origin that fired with desirable effects. Being the kind of potter who wants to make unique and original pieces, I cherish the special qualities and try to use those one-offs creatively while they last. The one-of-a-kind nature of That glaze on That pot can be a selling point.
Some of us older potters have experienced the disappearance of specific glaze materials and we don’t always try to replicate the lost effects, we just find what new stuff we can do with what’s available. There are so many possibilities ….

Yeah well said Rae, I'm sure this won't be the last mystery glaze I will have to mourn haha. I have just enough left to make a mug so I'll make it a special one and hopefully one of these days I'll find a glaze combo that has the same properties.

[Re-creating a happy accident glaze]

18 hours ago, Kelly in AK said:

I’m no glaze wizard, but I’ll throw in my impressions (worth 2 cents, not a penny more). It’s such a “fluxy” glaze recipe, I really can’t imagine how it could be so stiff and matt, especially with all that Gerstley borate. I do wonder how it behaves in the bucket, Gerstley being prone to gel and help suspend non plastic ingredients. If the bentonite was so overloaded it seems you would have noticed something funky when you mixed it. I feel like you didn’t miss the spodumene, that’s contributing to the brown-ness.

Edit: After a good night’s sleep I do remember seeing a picture of bentonite fired near maturity on Tony Hansen’s site. Very brown. 

Yeah after doing a little research I feel I've come to a better theory of what may have happened, because I think you're correct about it not looking right for a recipe with so much gerstley borate. I believe I may have had a bag of material wrongly labeled gerstley borate. If this is the case then I have no chance of re-creating this very easily because I have so many raw materials. I may have put too much bentonite but your right about it being fairly noticeable. I don't remember needing to add much extra water or having any problems mixing it. Thanks for your 2 cents! I'll take any I can get haha.
 

 

18 hours ago, Min said:

Just as a side note the original glaze recipe you posted in no way will make a durable glaze.

I figured it probably wasn't  a very strong glaze, I could tell just by the surface. When applied over other glazes it changes  quite a bit,  and becomes more of an effect glaze, I like it for the texture it takes on when coupled with glossy glazes.  I suppose it isn't too ideal for functional pieces but I wanted to experiment with it and see what would happen in other applications. 

 

16 hours ago, Babs said:

Wha is the number or name on Glazy, perhaps you adean error copying that. If bentonite aded in any large quantity, i would be so lumpy in the buckrt and hard to sieve

It was initially an altered version of an Emerald glaze from John Britt's mid range book. I definitely messed up when I copied the recipe, as one ingredient was omitted completely.  I realized that first mistake when it came out brown instead of green and doubled checked the recipe. When I tried to recreate the accident glaze I came to the realization I made and a second mistake that's harder to identify. After a little research I'm starting to think that gerstley borate I used was in a mislabeled bag that contained a mystery ingredient.

 

11 hours ago, PeterH said:

There is a John's Noxema 117/5 at https://www.flickr.com/photos/glazes/40006967621
... is this the recipe you use for the bottom glaze?

PS Glazy has a Noxema  https://glazy.org/recipes/6522 and a Noxema Blue https://glazy.org/recipes/2475

Thanks for the links to those Noxema recipes! However, it's actually the brown in the first photo that I'm looking for, the second photo was just to show how it paired with other glazes. I was worried I might confuse the situation if I posted that haha.

 

 

6 hours ago, Min said:

If you did get an analysis of the glaze you would probably get something like what is below which you would then need to work backwards with to make a recipe to supply those oxides. It would likely be very expensive to get testing done.  Take these figures and try to make a glaze with them on Glazy without looking at a recipe and you will get an idea of how to do it.

Ah yeah I suppose that is probably out of the question then, I would definitely be biting off more than I can chew if I went that route. I'll just have to let this one go I think, maybe eventually I can find a recipe that gives a similar effect. I've been saving a lot of brown recipes I found on glazy, I'm just going to mix a bunch and start testing!

[Re-creating a happy accident glaze]

4 hours ago, Min said:

How did it turn out? Picture?

I don't have a picture on hand but it turned out glossy and grey/blue.

 

 

3 hours ago, Babs said:

Top one, one you like?

Left out the cobalt, ? Prob not as sipmple as that because bottom image is a runnier glaze . Second batch same firing schedule, same Specific Gravity?

The second image is a glaze combo, it's the accident glaze applied over John's Noxzema.  The second batch was done the same way except for whatever mistake I made the first time around. I know I had the specific gravity consistent both times as well as the firing. 

 

 

2 hours ago, Jeff Longtin said:

Having recently worked at a pottery shop, where inexperienced young people mixed 10-20 gallons of glaze a day, I'll offer this: more than likely you carried over one of the percentages.

Rather than use 30% Spodumene you may have used 50%, for instance.

Considering the desired glaze is extremely matte I would suggest you added 20% Bentonite rather than 2%. 

That could definitely be the case! It wouldn't be the first time I made that mistake.  I'll give the extra bentonite a try and see what happens.


One more thing that I forgot to mention in my initial post, I've kinda wondered if the gerstley borate I used was something else in a wrongly labeled bag. If that's the case I can't even begin to fathom what it was in that bag, I have so many ingredients. 
 


 

[Re-creating a happy accident glaze]

Hey everybody, so I'm in a really frustrating predicament. I recently mixed a glaze based on a recipe I found on glazy.org and somewhere along the way I made a mistake. Not sure what the mistake was, I may have added the wrong ingredient, may have forgotten one- it could be anything really.  The thing is, I REALLY like this glaze accident. It's not so great on it's own, but when mixed with other glazes it's very interesting and beautiful.  I'm going to be unreasonably devastated if I can't figure out how to recreate this, or at the very least find a recipe that has similar properties.

I'm hoping that if I share a photo of the glaze someone might know a similar recipe.

Another option I'm considering is trying to reverse engineer the glaze, if that's even feasible.  I thought if I sent the remainder of the accident glaze to a lab for testing they may be able to give me enough information to figure out what I did. I'm no glaze chemist but I wonder if an experienced one would have the capacity to reverse engineer a glaze based on the results of the test.  I know this is a bit extreme  but I really want to figure this out.

If anyone has any experience with something like this I would appreciate your advice and opinions. I'll attach a few photos of the glaze for you all to have a look at. The first photo is the glaze on it's own, the second is the glaze applied over John's Noxzema. Thanks in advance!

Edit: I thought I should add the recipe I used to make this glaze. I've tried to make a second batch but it didn't turn out like the first.

RECIPE:

Gerstley Borate - 50.00
Spodumene- 30.00
Wollastonite- 20.00
Bentonite- 2.00
Chrome Oxide - 2.00
Cobalt Carbonate- 1.00


 

[Suggestions for an ultra-fine temper.]

20 hours ago, glazenerd said:

Matthew:

where you collected gives indication of mesh size. Most clay collected along water banks are obviously sedimentary, but pending how fast the water flows; usually find larger particle size. If you find a location along the creek/river where the current is slow; then you will most likely find smaller particle size clay. Did you test the clay without any additions before making the decision to add bentonite? Bentonite can be used, but it is not the best solution to create plasticity for many reasons. If you are after smooth; then theoretically you must increase small particle percentages (under 2 microns). Temper by wild clay definition is any large particle (20-40 mesh) added to create malleability, in lieu of plasticizers. 

You are actually talking about particle size distribution (PSD); a clay theorem that formulates a body based on %’s of large, medium, and small particles sizes. You are starting at 80 mesh from the description you posted. At this point, adding high percentages of fine mesh mullite, molochite, or kyanite would inhibit plasticity. All there of these are used to increase cone value, increase strength via mullite %, and or reduce warping when drying or firing. I do not know your firing method, or your peak cone value; so adding silica or feldspar would be a wild guess at this point. You can start with 60% wild clay, 20% Imco400 or Kentucky glaze#1, and 20% OM4 ball clay. In addition to smoothing out your clay; both additives will increase your dry time if you are doing large format pieces.

Tom

Hey Tom, thanks for your insight, I definitely have a lot of research to do on this topic. I fire in an electric kiln to cone 6.  I'll start looking into your suggestions I appreciate you giving me a good place to start.

Thanks to the other folks who suggested 200 mesh Kyanite, it's definitely much cheaper than the wood ash I've been looking at. Time to start experimenting!

[Suggestions for an ultra-fine temper.]

3 hours ago, PeterH said:

OTOH you seem to want an additive to achieve a really smooth clay. So I don't think its currently  cracking, and you are trying to make its smoothness more extreme.  So I suppose I'm asking if something like "less gritty" or "more plastic" would capture your intentions better (and leave less room for misunderstandings).

Yes that's correct, I'm making sculptures so I need a really smooth clay that can facilitate fine details. The clay body I've been buying from a supplier has no tooth or grit to it at all, and I'm hoping to replicate it. You're also correct about my usage of the term temper. I need a non plastic material that will prevent cracking and shrinkage but doesn't ruin the smooth consistency. My final sieve is done with an 80 mesh. 

Thanks for sharing that article, I'll read through it right now!

[Suggestions for an ultra-fine temper.]

Hey everybody, I've recently ventured into processing my own clay. I've been digging it up from a water bank, running it through a sieve and letting it drip dry from a pillowcase. Afterwards I add some bentonite to increase plasticity. My aim is a really smooth clay. I've experimented using diatomaceous earth as a temper but it ruins the texture for me.  I know that some people use wood ash/volcanic ash as a temper- I figure this would be the best bet for my desired texture. Does anyone here have any input on the subject? Do you use ash as a temper? Do you have a better suggestion? Thanks! 

[Paragon switch repair]

Hey guys, just wanted to give you an update. I did my first bisque fire to cone 06 last night, and everything seems to be in order. I really appreciate you making yourselves available to newbies like me. This kiln was difficult to research, so it was really nice to come here with my questions. Thanks! 

[Paragon switch repair]

On 10/19/2022 at 12:20 PM, neilestrick said:

@EarthToMatthew A gets the hot, D gets the neutral. 4 gets a wire from both elements (2 wires total). 2 and 1 each get a wire from one of the elements (1 wire each). You might have to swap 1 and 2 depending on which element heats up when on medium. I would have the top element on the top section and the bottom element on the bottom section heating on medium.

Hey Neil, thank you sir that sounds pretty straight forward I'll give it a shot.

[Paragon switch repair]

1 hour ago, Bill Kielb said:

So follow the table in the link above or table below:

The old lead L1 ark- les, now connects to the ‘a’ terminal on the new switch. The old lead N connects to the ‘b’ terminal on the new switch. The old lead L2 on the Ark-les connects to the ‘e’ lead on the new switch. Go though the table from top to bottom and you should be good to go. If you bought a 3 way switch instead of a four way, you will run out of wires, your switch needs to have 7 connections. It appears the Ark-less is missing the #1 connection. I need to review both to see if there is a way to use a three way in place of a four way. It’s not likely though. Next easiest and usually cheapest is to replace both with infinite switches but will take some skill getting the connections in order or get a four way switch.

 

From my understanding the switch I have is a 4 way. It's called a 3 heat switch but it has four positions like the switch on the KIln- Low, Medium, High and Off.

[Paragon switch repair]

16 hours ago, Bill Kielb said:

From your pictures it appears you have two different switches currently installed in the kiln. The black maybe an Ark-les and the red maybe an ivensys. IF TRUE then you will need to follow the conversion chart lead for lead in the link above. Nice crisp well lit photos of the existing switches AND the new one would confirm that for folks here and allow for clear helpful direction.

I did notice several questions above have gone un answered so I am just curious if the kiln wiring was confirmed as having a neutral, ground and two 120v circuits, have you measured the element resistance and what were the measurements (your elements in the picture look very spread out, so maybe worn) and how did you determine the switches are at fault, other than the corrosion - do the elements fail to sequence as expected? The red switch appears to be a replacement and in good condition.

Hey Bill, thanks again for your time and information. You're probably right about the red switch being in good shape- I figured that as well but got 2 just in case. The black switch was my main problem, when I removed it something was rattling around inside and it fell out with a little shaking. It was a metal pin that I imagine connected something in there, the heating element that didn't work was the second from the top so it was connected to that switch. That pin is probably what used to connect the element to the switch in some capacity. That's my uninformed speculation anyway haha. 

My Dad confirmed that it does have neutral grounding as well as 2 120v circuits. I haven't checked the resistance of the elements but I can later this evening. 

I took some photos of the switches, the black one is the Arc-Les switch that was broken. The hole in the top left of the photo looks like it used to have a pin, I think that's what fell out. Based on other switches I've seen I think it was labeled N. Although I could be completely wrong and nothing was there before.  In the second photo, there are 4 pins:  top left is 1, top right is COM, bottom left is PL and bottom right 2.

The red one is the new Gottak switch. The top 4 pins are A, B, C, and D. The bottom pins are labeled 1-4, however the 3 slot is empty. 

[Paragon switch repair]

Hey folks, so I've determined that the switches are definitely the issue, I took them off and found that they were very corroded.  I've been told this switch would be compatible and have ordered two of them. https://www.theceramicshop.com/product/26821/skutt-new-3-position-switch/

I found this diagram of the switch on the manufacturer's website if it can be helpful in any way. https://gottak.com/en/conmutadores.html?id=4RH

This is the conversion chart that came with the switches: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0272/1968/9606/files/New_Style_3-Heat_Switch_Conversion_Instructions.pdf?v=1593277799

My problem now is that I've looked at conversion charts and nothing lines up quite right. Can anyone here confirm if these switches are in fact compatible? If so, how do I determine where on the switches I should connect each component of my kiln?

Here is a wiring diagram for my kiln: https://eadn-wc05-4586769.nxedge.io/wp-content/uploads/A82WD.pdf

Here is another diagram I've been looking at for a switch wiring refrence: https://eadn-wc05-4586769.nxedge.io/wp-content/uploads/4way_Switch_Conversion-Ver3-Sept2017OCR.pdf

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to have a look at this!

 

[Paragon switch repair]

15 hours ago, oldlady said:

the element photos do not show anything but the wall and shadows.   hold the camera inside the middle of the kiln.  point the lens toward the wall and parallel to the wall.  now you will get a shot of the actual elements inside each groove.  that is what you want.   you have one in the curved section at the top.  it looks ok, the rest could be sitting straight in the grooves but crowded right next to each other, jam packed.  not good.

the repair pros will like your other photos except for being sideways like lots of phones show.    i do not have a cell phone and just wonder why they come out sideways.

Yeah you're right haha I could have done better with the photos. I'll get some better ones of the elements. Phone photos vary depending on how you hold your phone  while taking the picture (vertical or horizontal). I think a lot of people don't adjust the photos because we are all used to browsing the internet on our phones, so you can just turn your phone sideways to see the photo right side up.

[Paragon switch repair]

14 hours ago, Bill Kielb said:

Just a first question, it is an old Paragon that requires 240v with a neutral and an earth ground. Do you have Two (2) 120v circuits and a fully rated Nuetral run to the machine?   This should be  your wiring diagram https://paragonweb.com/wp-content/uploads/A82B_A823B_A81B_A88B_AA8B_AA8B3B_WD_PL.pdf

four way switch operation below requires both 120v circuits AND a nuetral.

 

 

 

Hey Bill, thanks for taking the time to help me out. I've printed out the diagrams I'm going to show them to my Dad, he's the one who wired the kiln up for me. He has a lot of experience with electrical but may not have known how this kiln in particular should have been wired. I'll be back with more info once I speak to him about it.

[Paragon switch repair]

2 hours ago, oldlady said:

you have checked the continuity of the elements but  are they sitting neatly in the slot running straight up and down or do they lean over on each other?   as a buyer of a used kiln, few people know about this sign of wear.   it is natural for the elements to eventually wear out and one of the signs is the leaning.   the electricity still runs through but not enough.

you will have answers here from the experts in kiln repair but it is not hard to look ant the elements first.   photos of your kiln taken from holding the camera inside it about halfway down will show them clearly.  if it is something else, you will get an answer if your photos cover the entire kiln.

i am sorry if you are an electrical expert and i misread your post as a beginner.

Hey thanks for your advice, I've just added some photos. I'm definitely not an electrical expert so you are right about my being a beginner. Do my element photos tell you anything or should I take different ones?

[Paragon switch repair]

Hey everybody, I just bought my first kiln. It's a used Paragon A81B,  240v manual kiln with a kiln sitter, it has 4 switch settings: off, low, medium and high. 3 of the 4 elements will come on but only when both knobs are switched to the high position. otherwise nothing happens at all. I ran my kiln for nearly 20 hours but never it got up to cone 06. I've checked all the elements and there seems to be connectivity, so I figure my problem is the switches. Does this sound right to anybody else?  

I looked on Paragon's website and found this 240 volt infinite switch,  would that be compatible with my kiln?  Thanks in advance for any help!