Search the Community

Will post pictures as soon as I get home, but I read somewhere that one does not really have to fire greenware before glazing. I understand there is a risk, and I am increasingly frustrated with the quality of the pieces coming out of my kiln. Kiln fires to Cone 6, I bisque to Cone 06. I bought a 25lb mix of the Amaco Ironstone and have been super disappointed. Switched to clear glaze (amaco mixing clear) because I started doing work with mason stains and marbeling clay bodies together, wedging nicely, and then throwing the pieces. They turned out great, but I started experimenting with dipping greenware in the glaze, and brushing it on. The dipped pieces came out just as beautiful as the brushed pieces, but the glaze pooled and or looks slightly milky in the areas where a little extra glaze collected after dipping. (clear glaze was not cheap, I want to try making my own, and I know there are many recipes but never sure where to start... I triple checked that I measured and calculated the specific gravity properly (1.41 g/ml) and I'm wondering what the pros and cons of direct firing a greenware piece with glaze on it. The color seems to have come out the same, but dipping pieces are tough cause I cant use tongs, and small buildup seems to be inevitable with a hand held dipped piece due to awkwardness of holding while dipping. Also dont want handles to fall off into expensive glaze bucket... Brushing worked ok, but perhaps I should try spraying a light layer instead? Current picture is greenware, but hoping this shows that I'm not some n00b with terrible output. 2 marbling types to date. Ones for practice with terra cotta and stoneware, and the second with porcelain and porcelain mixed with mason stains with the same wedging and throwing process. I have lots of pictures documenting the process but I don't know if this would ever be requested for a How-To. Mostly looking for advice on: 1 - achieving a thin clear glaze (brushing vs spraying vs making my own glaze - since the 10lb bucket of mixing clear set me back $76!) 2 - pros and cons of direct glazing said greenware marbled pieces since coat will be thin and all the detail work lies within the clay so no thick / glaze run expected.

Hello, All! I am looking for info on favorite and best clear glazes to use with slip decorations at cone 10, and favorites to use with underglaze at cone 6 on porcelain slip! any and all help is appreciated. I am in my senior year of my ceramics undergrad, so photos of results could be super beneficial because I am not 100% certain of the properties I desire as of just yet. Thank you in advance!

I had a collaborative project with a friend. I made the trays, she applied the black underglaze and did the sgraffito work. I bisqued the pieces to 04 and sprayed them with clear. All of the pieces came out with a white speckling and slight pitting. I have not noticed this effect on my other work with underglaze and clear. But I do not normally use large expanses of black. Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions? We would love to do more of this work. Roberta

Hi guys. I've started my aquaitance with ceramics and glazes half a year ago. I still have a very basic understanding of chemistry and I have several problems I'd like to ask about. First is clear transparent glaze. I made around 10 of them taking different recipes, but all of them contain bubbles. I've tried bisque firing in various temps, from 600 to 950C and second firing slow cooling, dropping and slow cooling, but bubbles are there and their quantity is similar in all conditions. I know commercial glazes don't have such problems. Please help me to figure out what is going on. My thought is that my raw materials are the problem. I have very few materials for glazes, those are: feldspar, whiting, borax, dolomite, talc, silica and kaolin. Substituting whiting with wollastonite didn't help. The runnier the glaze the less bubbles it has, but running is provided with whiting and borax and I have white clouds coming along with bubbles. Less flux - no clouds, but still bubbles. I imagine it is kaolin that gives a lot of small bubbles. Any chances to fix that? I have stains and wish to use them in underglaze painting, so I need to make a decent covering glaze. For underglazes I bought a few frits, I don't know their formula, seller keeps it in secret, only mentioning temp range. I have 1 lead flux frit melting on 710C and other leadless on 1100C. I need to fire on 1220C, so I guess some kaolin may help to lift temp of frits melting so the stains won't burn out, but more bubbles again? If you have info how to win the fight with bubbles please share. Sorry if made any mistakes.

Hi all. Can anyone please recommend some food safe, high fire, clear matte/satin glazes? I'll be using it over fired underglaze on slipcast mugs I'm working on. Amaco recommended their SM-10 (https://www.amaco.com/products/glaze-sm-10-clear?ref=2&taxon_id=284) to me, so I'm going to try that out. But I'd like to see what other people are using as well. They can be dippable, sprayable, brushable - anything. I just want to test some different products to find what I like best. Also, I understand that the matte/satin clears aren't entirely crystal clear in the way that gloss clears are, but how much of a difference is there? I'm relatively new to ceramics so any info will be helpful. Thanks!

Hi, I am hoping that someone can help me out. I am looking for a cone 10 clear that works well in oxidation, specifically with underglazes, mason stains and color in general. In our studio we have a Laguna Clear and another that work okay in reduction but not well with the colors our students use. I know it can be difficult to have some underglazes come through at cone 10, but, I'm hoping to find a really solid clear that doesn't bubble up, cloud or burn out the color so severely. We use a commercial speedball clear sometimes but it is getting too expensive and I would love to have one clear that can be used in the various kilns. Any recipes/info would be appreciated. Thanks.

I am looking for a satin clear glaze that can be fired to cone 2. I am going to do some testing, but there is such a plethora of recipes out there for low-fire and mid-range but not much that I can see for cone 2. I am assuming I will have to just test and tweak but not sure which ones to try first. Suggestions? Recipes?

Newbie here. I've been experimenting using different colored clay bodies and even colored clays using oxides and stains. Mostly for neriage/agateware technique. So far i've been leaving the exterior unglazed to show the true colors of the clay (usually buff, with ochre, white, or bclay). I've tried to glaze my pieces using an cone 6 oxidation clear glaze and cone 10 reduction clear glaze, but i find that the clay colors gets "covered" up by the glaze. Expecially in cone 10 where most of my dark clays (with iron) turns grey. Can anyone suggest an alternative glaze or material that will show through the clay underneath? tips?

Hello, I'm fairly new to ceramics and am learning quickly with the guidance of a really great teacher who encourages my creative side. I like to use underglaze on my bisque pieces to add more vibrant colors or if I want detailed decoration. My teacher and I have been experimenting with several different clear glazes both studio made and commercial but are finding that we can't quite get what we're looking for. We want a very glossy finish, but without any clouding. We fire to cone 5-6. Commercial glaze recommendations or recipes are great--thanks!

I have been mixing a Cone 6 clear gloss glaze that is very stable and consistent. It's a Glossy Clear Liner recipe (see below). However, the super shiny surface makes my pieces look "plasticy". It also changes the clay body color dramatically. I have two questions: 1) Does anyone know how to modify this recipe so it's less glossy? I don't want a matte finish. I would like something between satin and semi-gloss. 2) Will changing the sheen effect the clay body color somewhat? Thanks! GLOSSY CLEAR LINER 100G G-200 FELDSPAR 20 FERRO FRIT 3134 20 WOLLASTONITE 15 EPK KAOLIN 20 TALC 6 SILICA 19 TOTAL 100