Make your own glaze materials?

[Liam V]

I've recently come upon a video demonstrating that you can make your own whiting or calcium carbonate by bisque firing egg shells.  I've tried this myself and now have a jar of fine white powder which I am keen to test in a predominantly whiting glaze recipe. I love the thought that I can make an attractive glaze out of materials that I can gather myself!

I was wondering if any of you have any nifty ways that one could make their own glaze materials for cheap or by recycling household leftovers (Perhaps even materials that can be dug from the ground and refined).

Bonus side question: Does anyone have any simple glaze recipes between cone 6 and 10 that use whiting and not much else?

Bonus Bonus side question: I have also found very small particulates of alluvial gold (may also be pyrite) as well as a small amount of magnetite, any ideas for these? I was thinking of mixing the magnetite into a clay body to get a speckled appearance but am worried about the suitability of magnetite when a functional piece is placed into a microwave.

 

[liambesaw]

Magnetite should be fine, it is iron oxide and not a metal.

You can use pretty much anything to make glaze, that doesn't mean it will be good or safe though.  Clays, bedrock, limestone, granite, ash, etc will all turn into a glaze in the kiln, but it's hard to calculate or predict what will happen because you don't have an assay for them.

[Russ]

I used to use Portland cement as a glaze. It mimics a runny ash glaze at c10.   Ive also experimented with andesite... a rock found in our arroyos that when crushed and a minute amount of gerstly borate is added created a wonderful gold orange glaze at c10 . Its fun to experiment.

[Babs]

Nephysy 50

Calcite 50

Ball  clay 50

Red iron oxide10

Best cone 8 ish dull at c10