imperfectnoah Posted November 20, 2020 Report Share Posted November 20, 2020 Has anyone experienced getting hard, round deposits at the bottom of glaze bucket? All my glazes are cone 6, and I use epsom salt saturate in all my glazes. These are hard round beads that actually seem to embed in the bottom of the glaze bucket. I can't really find any cause and it doesn't occur in all my glazes. I think it's mostly in glazes that are a base glaze plus a Mason stain. Any thoughts would be helpful on what it is or how to fix. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted November 20, 2020 Report Share Posted November 20, 2020 If you use epsom salts it's probably epsom salts crystallizing out along with other soluble ingredients Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callie Beller Diesel Posted November 21, 2020 Report Share Posted November 21, 2020 There’s actually a number of things that could be causing it. Do your glazes contain lithium? Or a boron/calcium combination? If yes to either of those two things, has your bucket been stored below about 15*C? Lithium will precipitate out, and calcium/boron crystals form when your bucket gets too cold. The calcium boron ones can be pretty stubborn, and I’ve noticed they can cling to the bottom of a bucket that’s sat for a few months. As a side note, I found using a saturated epsom salt solution rather than the dry stuff seems to keep it from recrystallizing. I don’t know if it’s because you wind up using less, or what. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted November 22, 2020 Report Share Posted November 22, 2020 Good news is, after you sieve and dissolve the crystals in hot water and re-add them, the glaze will go back to looking and behaving exactly as it did when you first mixed it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted November 22, 2020 Report Share Posted November 22, 2020 I get those little hard balls in my glazes all the time. Could be epsom, could be boron. They don't seem to have any effect on the glaze, though. Whenever I top off a bucket I sieve them out and carry on. I also get thin flakes precipitating out on the side of my buckets with some glazes. I believe those flakes are boron or sodium (could be either based on my glaze recipes), because if they land on the surface of a pot they leave a little extra-glossy spot there after firing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.