Vastly different mason stain dry color?

[Morgan]

I have yet to test this but just found it curious on getting the same mason color from a few places can look so different in dry form. In my case chartreuse from laguna and the ceramic shop (I think that was the other). I mean one is darn near a saffron yellow while the other actually looks chartreuse. 
 

anyway just curious how all these vendors source their mason colors or if it even matters. I only ask because I did quite a bit of testing to finally get the right glaze color I wanted using the non chartreuse looking one from laguna only to get more somewhere else and was frankly shocked how different they looked. Time will tell but thought I would throw it out there in the interim.

[oldlady]

you might want to talk directly to Mason's tech person(s).    check the number on the label and refer to that during your discussion,   call them, they are really helpful and want to be.

[Callie Beller Diesel]

As long as the numbers on the stain match, it should be the same thing. They do change colour in the glaze somewhat. Does anyone know if they add dye to stains so that it reads somewhat like the end colour? I think some underglaze companies do this.

[StonedStudio]

Is it possible that they are different brands? 

[Morgan]

On 6/5/2021 at 6:58 AM, oldlady said:

you might want to talk directly to Mason's tech person(s).    check the number on the label and refer to that during your discussion,   call them, they are really helpful and want to be.

Problem is almost every company that sends masons does not come with a label they simply come in ziplock bags, brown bags etc with the mason number on it, besides laguna usually just written in a sharpie, which anyone could do. I guess I am getting at the questions mentioned above…are there different brands, dyes or in the end is the visual color not a big deal?

I guess your right though a call to them can’t hurt and ask if these other third party vendors are truly selling their mason stains.

[Jeff Longtin]

Yes, Morgan, Mason Stains vary vendor to vendor. (I've run into this myself.) The main reason, I suspect, is different batches.  Laguna might sell a specific stain, rather quickly, and have a recent batch. The Ceramic Shop might not sell THAT particular stain, very much, so they're sitting on an older batch.

While Mason tries to make sure each batch is the same their suppliers might have quality  variations that they can't overcome? As a result different batches may appear to be slightly different.

When you buy stain direct from Mason, 10lbs +, the boxes have the stain number and the batch year.   While you might not be buying stains at that level, more than likely Laguna and Ceramic Shop are, and you can ask them the batch dates. If they differ that's probably why the colors differ.

[Min]

9 hours ago, Morgan said:

are there different brands, dyes or in the end is the visual color

Yes, Mason (and other manufacturers) add organic dyes to the stains to simulate an approximation of the fired colour. I'ld just fire a sample of each and see if there's a difference. Could just be the organic dye that's different in which case it won't make a bit of difference.

That being said I have bought "Mason" stain from an online US supplier that was undercutting other ceramic places and it absolutely didn't give the same results as when I bought the same stain from other suppliers. Huge savings to buying bulk from Mason, like Jeff said though, there is a 10 pound minimum.

 

[Morgan]

Good to know thanks for all the info! And I am already buying in 5lb increments given my location but that will last me a long time. The little bag I got from non laguna I will just test for funzies  but I have what I want from the 5lb from laguna whom I trust a tad more I suppose.

thanks again for the info folks!

[neilestrick]

'Mason' is a brand name, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if suppliers are selling off-brand versions under the same numbers.

[Morgan]

Yup you are right Neil, I had a vendor tell me point blank they make their own. Not that there is anything wrong with that but seems rather fishy to sell something by a brand name when it isn’t. I guess mason is pretty laid back about enforcing their TM considering all of these places specifically say mason along with masons color code.