Color Depth For Stains At ^6 On White Stoneware

[docweathers]

Without stains, I am having trouble getting bright reds, yellows and oranges, However, with stains the color seems flat, I would like to get more color depth when using yellow, orange and red stains. I've been mixing stains with clear glazes.  

 

 

Should I be mixing my stains with other than clear glaze?

Would it work to add a small amount of stain to the  "natural" glaze that is closest to what I'm looking for... to brighten it up?

Is there some additive that would be helpful?

 

I would appreciate any suggestions.

[glazenerd]

Try 5-8% zinc. Mason recommends zinc additions for many of their colors.  I use reds and yellows, and get bright, vibrant colors with zinc additions.

Nerd

[Callie Beller Diesel]

Try a few percent titanium oxide. It does some fun variegation things sometimes, and it's an opacifier.

[Cavy Fire Studios]

Tried degussa red? One part stain, four parts gerstley borate. It smells like raunchy egg farts, but gives a beautiful red with subtle visual textures, depending on thickness applied.

This was at ^03, but I've used it in ^6 before, and it totally looks the same.

[rayaldridge]

I'd echo Diesel's advice about using titania.   I've been using a glaze that has titania, boron, and lithium, which gives a very active surface-- the glaze boils at top temp and eats into the colored slips beneath.  Small variations in thickness and spray pattern (of the slip) lead to interesting surface textures.

 

This is a whitish sort of glaze-- the opacity comes from the titania. 

 

[PeterH]

Tried degussa red? One part stain, four parts gerstley borate. It smells like raunchy egg farts, but gives a beautiful red...

 

Err do many of your glazes smell?

 

The cadmium colours come from cadmium seleno-sulphides. Both sulphur and selenium are notorious for producing

smelly compounds (like rotten eggs, garlic, ...). But they should be safely encapsulated, shouldn't they?

[docweathers]

Thanks for the input. It looks like I have a wide range of things to experiment with. 

 

Ray Aldridge

 

Would you be wiling to share that very interesting glaze recipe?

[rayaldridge]

Larry, I'd be happy to share it, but it is a cone 8 glaze.  I suspect it could be easily modified for 6

 

45  Custer spar

14  Silica

11  Whiting

14  Kaolin (I use EPK)

10  Gerstley Borate

6   Lithium Carb

 

Add

 

6 Titanium dioxide

 

By itself, on porcelain, it's a fairly wishy-washy glossy translucent semi-white.  But over colored slips it is a lot more interesting. I use it pretty thin, dipping at SG 1.45.  Used thick, it can run off the pot, but if it's thick on the rim, you get interesting color variations.

 

I modified this from a Cone 10 Arrowmont glaze that was tinted with cobalt.

[docweathers]

Thanks.. I will convert it to ^6 and see what happens.

[Cavy Fire Studios]

Only my degussa stain stinks.