MKG001

Thanks everyone!

I am currently transporting my tools to class in a bucket and would like something more organized. Any recommendations or favorites for tool bags or boxes? Thanks!

I'd love recommendations for a deep brown or black clay body, cone 6, that works well with various glazes. (I've put various glazes on Laguna B3 and they seem to react with the clay and go to a muddy beige unless I use many coats. ) Thanks!

Wow, that sounds perfect. I'll definite give it a try, thank you!

Thanks so much. If you have another minute... what is a good way to polish the surface if I do succeed in scraping away the undesired patches of luster?

Thanks everyone for the wonderful advice. I'm happy with the result of my first experiment with gold luster! For the record, I heated at 500F/h to 1000 F, 200F/h to 1069 F, 500F/h to 1250, and 200F/h to cone018 (1319F), and this seemed to work perfectly. Evaluating how it went, I can see that one challenge was making sure all the red luster was fully cleaned off my red glaze. I'm left with some purplish marks where the cleaning was not complete. Is there a way to buff these off the fired piece? Or is it just on to the next piece?

Fantastic, thank you!

Following up on this... when firing the luster to cone 018, do I need to heat slowly through the cristabolite (420F) and quartz (1060 F) transitions? Or are these not an issue, given that my pieces were already fully fired at cone 6? Thank you!

Sorry for ignorance-- what is a dragger? :-)

Does the unfired gold get messed up when you peel back the stencil? I have a picture in mind that the edges of the gold will come up.

I splurged on a tiny jar of Mayco OG805 luster and want to use it to create precise designs on a pot with a glossy glaze. I am thinking of using a Cricut to cut an adhesive vinyl stencil for this. Does this sound like a good approach? Thank you!

Well, for those following this thread... I joined an Amaco ^5/6 glaze group on Facebook and searched for mentions of this Blue Spark glaze there. A lot of people struggle to get it to behave as advertised. Lots of bubbles and pinholes, lots of colors not as expected. To the point that Amaco support posted a document called Troubleshooting Blue Spark Glaze, and one forum member was so frustrated he told Amaco support he is switching to Mayco glazes! I'll play around with it more based on insights provided here and also on the Amaco group ... Thanks again for all the expert feedback! It's very educational for me.

Hm customer support added that this glaze seems to do better with a clear liner glaze inside the pot. Mysterious, but I'll try it.

First, I want to thank everyone who replied for generously sharing your expertise! Second, in case you are interested, here is what I heard back from Amaco customer support, after sharing details of the clay body, firing schedule, etc etc: I was surprised by the idea of refiring at lower cone (5) to potentially recover, but I'm game to try it.

@Callie Beller Diesel That's really interesting. I also see the pitting in the glaze bowls on the Blick page for this clay! Now I'm wondering if some ingredient (sulfites per your suggestion) might be altering the chemistry of the glaze. Oh, I found the MSDS: https://www.dick-blick.com/msds/DBH_SDS_305171050.pdf The only listed ingredients are as follows:

Would outgassing of the clay also cause this kind of pitting? This is same clay, same kiln-firing, different glaze.

Thanks all! @Babs I haven't used this glaze successfully before. @Kelly in AK @PeterH @neilestrick Thanks for the insights about the clay-- very educational for me. I bought this clay because it was conveniently available and affordable, not because I envisioned going to cone 10. Fortunately, my next box of clay is a Laguna cone 5, so it will be interesting to see how that does.

Thanks, it's ^5-10, so should be robust! https://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-stoneware-clay/ The bottom of the pot is nice and smooth, so the pitting must be in the glaze.

I applied 3 coats of Amaco PC-11 Blue Spark to a piece (light-colored Blick Stoneware Clay bisqued to ^04) and fired it at ^6. Far from giving the desired lapis lazuli-like blue, it turned a deep, shiny, pitted green, as shown in the photo. My witness cone on the bottom shelf looked maybe a bit above temperature, but not much. Unfortunately I forgot to put one on the top shelf where this piece was located. So maybe it was just a bit too hot, but I'd think a glaze rated cone 5/6 would have been okay. I'd be grateful for advice on how to do better with this glaze :-) Thanks! Mike

Thanks I am going to try this. Do you have a cone 5 or 6 strong shiny red to recommend also?

Thank you! Is there a brush that is better than a hake brush for putting on good, thick coats?

Okay, I will give that a try. Thanks!

... This might sound odd, but for the piece I'm working on, I'm aiming for a smooth, uniform, glossy, almost "factory-made" surface.

Just wondering... maybe there is also another white glaze (Amaco HF-11?) that might be more forgiving?

Thanks for your suggestions! I didn't realize that the glaze results could be so dependent on brushing technique. I'm using a Hake brush, by the way. Is dipping easier/more reliable? Since you mentioned the firing, here are those details: The bisque firing was cone04 with Skutt defaults including a 1 hour preheat at 180F. It took about 16h to reach cone04, and I opened it probably another 16h later at about 125F. The glaze firing was a Skutt factory default "medium" to cone 5 and took 8 hours to reach the target temperature. I opened it at about 110F.