Lilya

@Babs Thank you again. I'd love to buy a kiln with more functionality one day, but at the moment, that's what I have. (It is wonderful though!) As for dunking, thank you, but I've tried that already and didn't have any luck. Someone else actually recommended to me that I bisque lower, so I guess it's worth trying whatever I can!

@Babs Thank you again. My kiln's max temp is 1020°, so while I could go a bit higher, I couldn't get to cone 04. I'll see what happens though, thank you.

@Min Brilliant, thank you. I'll try that! I've also been trying a GB : neph sy 50:50 mix with the dodgy GB I have. I was hoping that reducing the concentration might help to reduce the bubbling, etc. It's not perfect, but it is better. I do know that GB is not a forever option, but it might buy me some time to get a real replacement sorted. Many thanks again anyway :-)

@Babs Thank you for your reply. My original post was about alk frit + neph sy, but I haven't used it since then apart from on a project where I really wanted its rough, patchy look. I've been using frit 1254 + kaolin more recently ... that's what I added the CMC gum too and it's that I'm now struggling to brush. I wonder would glycerine work there? But for the alk frit + neph sy (+ bentonite), for that I was using a pre-mixed gum blend that I added to water. The whole mix would separate literally instantly. I was mixing it in the bottle, mixing it in the dish, watching it separate on the brush, etc. I thought about what else I could add, but after my first post, Neil said that it was too far gone to save, so I sort of gave up on it. I almost threw it away actually, but I kept it (and shake it every few days ha!) because there are certain projects where I like its look as I said. Even if it is a nightmare to apply! But I had read about Epsom salts, so maybe that would be worth trying?? Or more bentonite to help with suspension? I bisque to 980°. The clay's temps are 980 – 1300°C ... it's white at lower temps but turns grey higher. My main problems overall are brushability and flow, but with the alk frit + neph sy, it was the separation too. In reality, I wouldn't use the alk frit + neph sy on a regular basis anyway as it's a bit too opaque, but it would be nice to get it working better for when I do need it. Thank you again!

@PeterH Just CMC (+ copper carb), yes.

@Babs Ok, thank you very much! I'll try that. @neilestrick It wasn't very syrupy, no. Just like very slightly slimy water. I mixed with the proportions given, but maybe it wasn't enough? Veegum T would not appear to be available here. I've tried it with first layer wet, first layer touch dry, first layer actually dry: each has its own problems. But I'll try another batch of CMC and see what happens. Thank you both again.

@Babs Thank you for your reply. The pieces are clean — no dust — and I have tried the glaze with various amounts of liquid. It seems that this mix just doesn't want to flow very well. (It is frit 1254 : kaolin, 90:10 or 85:15 so far.) CMC needs to be cooked? The instructions I have don't mention cooking. How do you cook it please? Thank you again.

Hello again kind people (and no worries if you're too busy for yet another question from me!!), I'm still experimenting with proportions and temperatures, but in the meantime, I have another problem: the glaze I made at the week-end was much worse last night than it was first time around in terms of brushability. I made up a big bottle of CMC gum + copper carb. that I've been using to replace 1/3 of the water in the recipes, but whereas the first time I used it, it worked well enough, subsequent uses are increasingly less useable. Argh! The first layer goes on fine, but the second layer jumps over the first when I try to brush it on. The third is even worse. And it can't stand texture. I've taken to *always* filling in textures (all my test tiles have simple faces or patterns now ha!) first with a tiny brush to try to avoid black holes, but then I'm getting depressions where the following layers of glaze won't sit nicely on the original. I've tried it thick and thin and everything in between. I try to smooth it all over in between layers and at the end, but I inevitably miss something and end up with holes, because the glaze doesn't seem to flow and fill in. Maybe I'll find a proportion that does, but I'm not there yet. Maybe I'll find a temp that works better too, but at the moment I feel like I'm shooting in the dark even when I'm looking! My last opening was at 980° ... everything was nicely melted, but I could see the holes in a piece even then. I let it go till 1000° and held it there a bit, but the holes persisted. No more appeared, but the ones that were there didn't go either. My kiln only goes to something like 1020°, so really I'm fairly limited with going much hotter. (And yes, I would love something with more functionality eventually, but that's all I could afford at the time! And to its credit, it has been absolutely brilliant and allowed me to do what I love.) So I'm wondering if the gum has gone bad so quickly? And if I'm just chasing rainbows trying to get a non-GB, brushable raku glaze with what I can get here in France? Thank you all so much again for your help. Whether you answer or not, I really do appreciate all the info you've given me so far.

@Bill Kielb Thank you again for the explanation. I'll do some tests soon then and see what happens!

@neilestrick Ok, I'll look into that (no pun intended)!

@Bill Kielb No worries at all. Thank you very much for the clarification and explanation. I'll make up another batch of test tiles and some mini glazes mixes of varying proportions and see what happens. More economical is definitely a good thing! My only concern / question, and this could be totally down to my ignorance, is will more alumina make the glaze stiffer / flow less well when it melts? I'm already finding that I don't have as much flow as I did with the GB; this is an issue for me given the carvings, etc., on my pieces. If more Al will reduce the flow even more, it probably won't work for me (but I will give it a try just to see). But if I'm just being dim and it doesn't work that way, then yes it could be good to have more kaolin. Many thanks again.

@neilestrick @Min Thank you both. Basically it's a big cube ... it's hinged near the bottom, so the whole top lifts off — the bulk of the cube — to leave a square, er, firing platform. So I suppose if I lay on the ground level-ish with the base of the kiln (at a safe distance!) and my husband started to open it, I could see what was happening without actually letting a rush of air in. Otherwise I could just try to open and close really fast. Maybe the next time I do my test tiles, because then it won't matter too much if something goes awry. Thanks so much again.

@neilestrick Nope, no way to see in without opening it. It does regain heat pretty fast once it's closed again, but I'm still thinking it wouldn't be great to lower the temp so fast (through opening) and then have to re-raise? Thank you again.

@Bill Kielb I'm sorry to bother you again, but my brain has just caught up with the maths. You said "So 75% /15% may be worth a try ...", but that's only 90; am I not understanding something, or should it be 85/15 or 75/25? Thank you so much again for your help!

@neilestrick Thank you so much again for your help. Unfortunately, I can't watch the melt as my kiln is electric (French: it's made for bisque and raku), so I can't open it to see w/o massive heat loss. But hopefully I'm getting somewhere now ... we shall see! Many thanks again.