Are Mason Stain Colors Interchangeable?

[Brandon Franks]

I was looking at this glaze and it calls for 10% green mason stain. If I were to use a red or blue mason stain in equal proportions, would the glaze come out the same, just a different color?

 

Here's the recipe-

https://glazy.org/recipes/30128

 

Thanks,

Brandon

[liambesaw]

Depends on the stain.  Check masons website for their compatibility chart, it'll show what each color needs to look it's best.  Like for instance one color needs to be in a zinc base, while others will go brown in a zinc base.

Here you go: http://www.masoncolor.com/reference-guide

As you can see, crimson is composed of calcium, tin and chrome, and the key says 3,5,9.  3 is fires to 2300, 5 is no zinc, and 9 is must contain 10% calcium.

So in your recipe above, it would work with crimson because it's zinc-free, has 15% calcium and is a cone 6 glaze!

[Min]

Some stains are strong enough that a couple percent is enough, cobalt blues for example, others like chrome tin reds need a higher amount to get a good deep colour from. In the base glaze recipe in your link there is plenty of calcium in it so that will help develop the red from a chrome tin red stain but the alumina might be a bit high. For a cadmium inclusion red stain the base should be okay to develop the colour, if you can use less than 10% stain that would be preferable. Base glaze makes a huge difference to how the colourants in the stain will react. Mason reference chart here. Stains are expensive, I would make up your base glaze then to 100 grams of it I'd add 2 grams of stain, dip a test tile, add another 2 grams and dip another test tile, repeat up to a total of 10 grams. As each time you dip a test tile you will be removing some glaze this isn't going to be absolutely accurate but it will get you in the ballpark for how much stain you need.

[Brandon Franks]

14 minutes ago, Min said:

Some stains are strong enough that a couple percent is enough, cobalt blues for example, others like chrome tin reds need a higher amount to get a good deep colour from. In the base glaze recipe in your link there is plenty of calcium in it so that will help develop the red from a chrome tin red stain but the alumina might be a bit high. For a cadmium inclusion red stain the base should be okay to develop the colour, if you can use less than 10% stain that would be preferable. Base glaze makes a huge difference to how the colourants in the stain will react. Mason reference chart here. Stains are expensive, I would make up your base glaze then to 100 grams of it I'd add 2 grams of stain, dip a test tile, add another 2 grams and dip another test tile, repeat up to a total of 10 grams. As each time you dip a test tile you will be removing some glaze this isn't going to be absolutely accurate but it will get you in the ballpark for how much stain you need.

Okay, thanks. I never used stains before because I though that oxides, carbonates (etc...) were always easier and more natural.

 

Thanks,

Brandon

[Brandon Franks]

25 minutes ago, liambesaw said:

Depends on the stain.  Check masons website for their compatibility chart, it'll show what each color needs to look it's best.  Like for instance one color needs to be in a zinc base, while others will go brown in a zinc base.

Here you go: http://www.masoncolor.com/reference-guide

As you can see, crimson is composed of calcium, tin and chrome, and the key says 3,5,9.  3 is fires to 2300, 5 is no zinc, and 9 is must contain 10% calcium.

So in your recipe above, it would work with crimson because it's zinc-free, has 15% calcium and is a cone 6 glaze!

Awesome, thanks.

 

I will probably try it with that color you suggested, and will look on their website to find other capable ones too.

 

Thanks,

Brandon

[liambesaw]

4 minutes ago, Brandon Franks said:

Okay, thanks. I never used stains before because I though that oxides, carbonates (etc...) were always easier and more natural.

 

Thanks,

Brandon

Oxides are much cheaper.  Like the only reason to use a cobalt blue mason stain is if you need a very specific shade. Otherwise just use cobalt (which wow has gotten extremely cheap in the last month or two).  For stuff like reds, oranges, yellows, blacks and grays, stains are awesome because those colors are tough to recreate with oxides.