Art teacher seeking cone 06 / 05 glaze recipes

[Cardinal Clay]

Hi everyone,

I am a high school art teacher revamping the art program and I want to get away from just pints of premade commercial glaze.  I'd like to get half a dozen of cone 06 or 05 glaze recipes that students can make themselves and explore the chemistry.  I've searched and am finding many clear and whites in those cones and many high fire glazes that are too hot.  I'm using a white earthenware, cone 06 clay.  Any recipes are appreciated.  Thank you.

[Bill Kielb]

Try glazy.org and search for each by cone. 04,05,06 ...... there are many and access is free. The picture below is a search of 05, looks like there are many

One thing comes to mind as well, kids safe glazes are a thing for real reasons. I suggest you become familiar with why and what part if you are not already.

[Cardinal Clay]

Thank you so much.  And agreed, safety is always important.

[Bill Kielb]

35 minutes ago, Cardinal Clay said:

Thank you so much.  And agreed, safety is always important.

Just a final thought depending upon your glaze experience. We often take a cone ten or cone six glaze we like, and simply move the boron level to about 0.42 to get it to melt at cone 04, 05. This is pretty easy to do if you are familiar with glaze calc software and a chemistry approach to glazes. Your students possibly could then run color progressions to get a new favorite glaze.

Just an idea, when we do basic glaze formulation we simplify it a whole bunch and try to show the trends in melt, gloss, color, etc... so the students get an idea of having some control over the simple aspects. I have a few videos that can be an example and some tools you can use or you could use Glazy to illustrate some of the points in a live lecture. Message me if you think this fits what you envision, it’s time for me to improve these videos anyway.

[Cardinal Clay]

That's really cool Bill. Thanks for the heads up.  I would be interested.  Let me get the ball rolling this year and then I'd love to revisit the idea of simplifying the glazes and having the students explore their ranges.  Can't wait. Thanks again. 

[neilestrick]

A basic low fire clear glaze is 90% Frit 3124 + 10% EPK.

If you plan to brush the glazes, then you'll need to add a gum solution to the mix.

Also check on the rules for using glazes (art materials) at your school that haven't gone through toxicity certification. At the very least you are required to maintain an MSDS database for all materials used in your classroom. Also bear in mind that raw materials and fired glazes are two totally different things in terms of toxicity.

[liambesaw]

2 minutes ago, neilestrick said:

A basic low fire clear glaze is 90% Frit 3124 + 10% EPK.

If you plan to brush the glazes, then you'll need to add a gum solution to the mix.

Also check on the rules for using glazes (art materials) at your school that haven't gone through toxicity certification. At the very least you are required to maintain an MSDS database for all materials used in your classroom. Also bear in mind that raw materials and fired glazes are two totally different things in terms of toxicity.

Solutions too!

Also will need to invest in some PPE for students mixing glazes.  N or P95+ respirators, gloves and safety glasses!  In my ceramics 3 course in college we all had to take a materials safety and ppe workshop before being able to mix glaze.  I think it was mostly bureaucratic rigamarole for insurance purposes but it was useful learning about MSDS (SDS now) so depending on the ages of the kids that might be fun and useful from a practical knowledge standpoint.  Good luck and have fun!  Incorporate a little science into it and kids will love it.