tiny spherules in wet glaze

[shawnhar]

I am having trouble figuring out what to do about these tiny spheres in my glaze, they are smaller than the sieve I have (think it's 80#) and not sure what is causing them or how to deal with it. It seems the minerals are separating out and hardening into tiny little balls. They will mess up the piece as they don't smooth over or melt well and leave a bumpy pinholed surface. This is my clear but I have seen the same thing in my turquoise glaze as well.

Anyone seen these before and/or know how to deal with them?

[liambesaw]

Can you rub them out?  I can't tell from the picture, it just looks like pinholes where air escaped after it was dipped.  Do they appear right away?  If the only appear after they're dried is it possible they were soluble salts that crystallized on the surface?  If so you can try to eliminate the soluble ingredients in the glaze

[shawnhar]

I can rub them off, not out, they are little solid rocks, not air. They appear after dipping, and after dry, can be brushed/rubbed off. 

the clear is

• Nepheline Syenite 24%
• Wollastonite 6.4%
• Gerstley Borate 16.8%
• EPK 8% Flint 32.8%
• Strintium Carbonate 12%
• Bentontite (optional) 2%

The Turquoise does the same thing, it is

• Cornwall stone 41%
• Silica 16.5%
• Strontium Carbonate 12.5%
• OM4 ball clay 10%
• Whiting 10%
• EPK 5%
• Lithium Carbonate 5%

[liambesaw]

Lithium carbonate and calcium carbonate are both soluble in water. As is the boron from gerstley borate.  Nepheline syenite is also slightly soluble.  So at the end of it, could be a fairly soluble salty mix.  Might just be something you have to rub off after it dries when you use those glazes?  Not sure how to adjust the solubility other than to start subbing frits and such.  Like subbing the whiting for wollastonite, the gerstley for a borosilicate frit, the lithium for a lithium frit or petalite or spodumene, and just go down the line to get things less soluble.  I'm not sure but that sounds like salts crystallizing on the surface to me.

[shawnhar]

Thanks, not sure what to do about the glazes now. They sat for a month without being used, does glaze go bad in that amount of time? Also wondering if I can get a 100# screen and smash the little bits back into the glaze?

[liambesaw]

Have you tried sieving it and not getting anything? Normally if it's crystallized in the bucket you can sieve out the lithium and other crystals and dissolve them in hot water before adding them back in

[shawnhar]

I tried sieving it but the clumps are so small it only catches a few of them, going to order a 100 and see what happens. 

[neilestrick]

I get them too. It's probably from the boron, because I never had them in my cone 10 glazes, which didn't use boron.

[Babs]

What would heating the glaze do???

 

[liambesaw]

7 minutes ago, Babs said:

What would heating the glaze do???

 

Turn it into glass

[Mark C.]

Run that glaze in a blender at full speed for a few minutes then seive-then galze the pots.

It looks more like the surface of vthe moon arew you sure thats not a luner photo???I think I see a little flag off to the side ?

[Babs]

5 hours ago, liambesaw said:

Turn it into glass

Ok ok Liam:-))

I meant below 100 deg C young man !!!

Like sieve fine then place blumps in a pan with some glaze and heat to see if blumps get into solution...

What do you think??

[dhPotter]

Pete's Seafoam needs sieving before each glaze session. I get the same little hard balls. Shawnhar they will not go thru a 100# mesh. My glazes sat for 6 weeks before yesterday's session.  I sieved the glaze, using 100 mesh, and the balls appeared. This happens everytime if glazes sit up.  I took a 1/2 cup of glaze and mixed the little balls into it. Then into the microwave for 45 seconds on high, thinking they would dissolve - they did not.

I am thinking it is the Strontium Carb doing this. I have not a solution for the problem.

Pete's Seafoam

  Ferro Frit 3134.............     9.60  
  F-4 Feldspar................    51.30  
  Strontium Carbonate.........    25.50  
  EP Kaolin...................    12.00  
  Copper Carbonate............     5.00  
  Titanium Dioxide............     5.00  
  Glaze Jelly.................     3.00  
                              =========
                                 111.40

[Pres]

I get something like that in my glazes after they have frozen, but always get strained out after running through an 80 mesh screen. I have come to screening glaze every time I run a glaze load as it saves trouble with little bits of bisque etc that get into the glaze.

 

best,

Pres

[douglas]

If you have access to a ball mill, try running the glaze through that before using - that might break up the particle clumps. 

[Magnolia Mud Research]

The “little balls” are precipitated crystals of some part of one or more of the glaze ingredients. If the ingredients in the glaze recipe are necessary for the glaze to be successful, one can safely assume that removing the “little balls” will change the glaze in some fashion.   If the balls are not easily dissolved, the remove the balls, dry them, and crush / grind them to a small particle size.  I would use a mortar and pestle, or ball mill, depending on the volume of the “little balls”; after all, the glaze slurry is just a mixture of smaller balls. 

 

The reason fit the formation of the “little balls” could be evaporation of the water, temperature changes, or contamination from pots or tools dipped in the glaze.  A detailed identification of the little balls would be an excellent sophomore lab assignment for analytical chemistry; tedious but not difficult. Most of us don’t need to search for a sophomore chemistry student to join our studio staff. 

LT 

 

As a footnote, if removing the “little balls“ works for your situation, have at it!  Don’t waste time and energy solving a non-problem!

[shawnhar]

Just wanted to follow up and say thanks to everyone. Ran the clear through the 100 mesh screen and removed all the "sand", worked great. I feel like maybe it was mostly dust from bisque.