2Relaxed Posted October 27, 2020 Report Share Posted October 27, 2020 So there's this glaze one of the potters I follow on IG uses that has me drooling. I'm too shy to ask for a recipe but from scrolling through the feed I see that it's a wood ash glaze fired in oxidation. I don't know if this potter uses real wood ash, all I know is that I don't want to mess with real wood ash myself. I found a few synthetic ash recipes that are supposed to mimic ash sourced from different kinds of burned materials. Also found some wood ash ^6 ox. glaze recipes I want to try that I believe may produce the look I'm after, which is very glossy with tiny white crystals. Those of you who have experience with wood ash glazes - is using synthetic ash as a replacement for real ash adequate? Produces similar results? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted October 27, 2020 Report Share Posted October 27, 2020 It is adequate, seattle pottery supply sells a really good synthetic wood ash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted October 27, 2020 Report Share Posted October 27, 2020 Here is an example of lalone blue ash with synthetic wood ash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Relaxed Posted October 27, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2020 @liambesaw Thanks for sharing Liam. My supplier here in BC doesn't have synthetic ash, so I'll have to poke around and test formulations that would work to achieve my goals. It would be very interesting to see side-by-side pots with real wood ash glaze vs. synthetic ash, formulated to replace that same wood type. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Relaxed Posted October 27, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2020 Also, now that I think of it - the look I'm after is more typical of a high gloss microcrystalline glaze rather than ash glaze with runny rivulets. Maybe I'm making my task that much harder following the hints found on IG feed instead of just finding a microcrystalline recipe that has the look I want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted October 27, 2020 Report Share Posted October 27, 2020 6 minutes ago, 2Relaxed said: @liambesaw Thanks for sharing Liam. My supplier here in BC doesn't have synthetic ash, so I'll have to poke around and test formulations that would work to achieve my goals. It would be very interesting to see side-by-side pots with real wood ash glaze vs. synthetic ash, formulated to replace that same wood type. Synthetic wood ash will be like "washed" wood ash. Unwashed ash is way more unpredictable and full of soluble salts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted October 27, 2020 Report Share Posted October 27, 2020 2 minutes ago, 2Relaxed said: Also, now that I think of it - the look I'm after is more typical of a high gloss microcrystalline glaze rather than ash glaze with runny rivulets. Maybe I'm making my task that much harder following the hints found on IG feed instead of just finding a microcrystalline recipe that has the look I want. I don't know what that looks like, every ash glaze I've seen is rivulet style or nuka style. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Min Posted October 27, 2020 Report Share Posted October 27, 2020 @2Relaxed, could you post an example of the type of glaze you are looking for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted October 28, 2020 Report Share Posted October 28, 2020 If you're comfortable using glaze calculation software, you can take any glaze that uses ash and simple reformulate it using other ingredients, mostly whiting (calcium carbonate). I revised all of my ash glazes when I got tired of dealing with real ash. It takes a couple tests, as all ash behaves differently, but it's not particularly difficult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Relaxed Posted October 28, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2020 10 hours ago, Min said: @2Relaxed, could you post an example of the type of glaze you are looking for? Here it is! Avesha makes beautiful work!!! https://www.instagram.com/p/B9qyLX-ALCA/ - this one shows the high gloss really well https://www.instagram.com/p/CGo17CKj9RT/ https://www.instagram.com/p/CGhIVxmDJfu/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted October 28, 2020 Report Share Posted October 28, 2020 That's a zinc glaze, I don't think there's any ash in it, or if there is, it's not important. Check out "behrens satin matte" on glazy to see examples like this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted October 28, 2020 Report Share Posted October 28, 2020 Here's behrens and lalone blue ash together, but it's behrens that makes the crystals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted October 28, 2020 Report Share Posted October 28, 2020 And a close-up of the crystals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Relaxed Posted October 28, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2020 @neilestrick Yeah, that's what I'll end up doing most likely. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Relaxed Posted October 28, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2020 @liambesaw This glaze on the pics you posted doesn't look like the one I'm swooning over, not to my eye anyway. A bit more sleuthing revealed that lith. carb and tit. diox. are present in the recipe. I'll be testing several zinc/titanium/magnesium glazes in my next glaze file, maybe one of them comes close... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhPotter Posted October 28, 2020 Report Share Posted October 28, 2020 Your linked to pictures look like glazes over Strontium Crystal Magic Cool. SCMC has both Lithium carb and titanium dioxide Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted October 28, 2020 Report Share Posted October 28, 2020 1 hour ago, 2Relaxed said: @liambesaw This glaze on the pics you posted doesn't look like the one I'm swooning over, not to my eye anyway. A bit more sleuthing revealed that lith. carb and tit. diox. are present in the recipe. I'll be testing several zinc/titanium/magnesium glazes in my next glaze file, maybe one of them comes close... Yeah they don't look like the ones you're swooning over, I was just posting an example of zinc crystals, which is what those are. Titanium and lithium are in almost every crystalline glaze. See "binger" as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted October 28, 2020 Report Share Posted October 28, 2020 Microcrystalline are my wheelhouse Here is strontium crystal magic over variegated slate blue: Here's straight behrens Here's SCM over jens juicy fruit Same here They all have 3 things in common. High zinc (>20%), titanium, and lithium Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted October 28, 2020 Report Share Posted October 28, 2020 One more! This is simply a slow cooled calcium glaze Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted October 28, 2020 Report Share Posted October 28, 2020 Ok, one more, this one is purely iron crystals, only a hint of zinc to initialize and help melt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Min Posted October 28, 2020 Report Share Posted October 28, 2020 Agree that those examples from DeWolfe don't look like ash glazes. I think part of the background colour is from having a white slip (probably somewhat thin) over a red claybody. Transparent zinc glaze with colourants. This glaze from Matt Katz might be somewhere to start if you fire to ^6. Have you tried sending DeWolfe an email and asking her? Even if she doesn't share the entire recipe she might give you some pointers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Relaxed Posted November 1, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2020 Thank you everyone for your replies and ideas! I have quite a few test tiles in my glaze fire today, including the one you suggested @Min. The kiln is on slow cooling schedule, it's the first time I'm trying one! Wish me luck! Will share promising results (if any) in a couple of days! Oh, and if/when I'm brave enough to ask Avesha, that'll be the day to celebrate (even if she doesn't share her recipe)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Relaxed Posted November 1, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2020 On 10/28/2020 at 2:57 PM, liambesaw said: Microcrystalline are my wheelhouse I am really fascinated by microcrystalline glazes, hope to find a couple that I like!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted November 1, 2020 Report Share Posted November 1, 2020 Slow cooling a microcrystalline glaze tends to send it completely matte since it allows the entire surface to crystallize. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Relaxed Posted November 2, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 4 hours ago, liambesaw said: Slow cooling a microcrystalline glaze tends to send it completely matte since it allows the entire surface to crystallize. Yes, I am aware of that, but trying anyway... Most of my tests in this kiln are regular glazes, I'm looking forward to seeing what slow cooling does to them. I'm very new to all this, so experimenting without rhyme or reason at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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