How can i make this glaze “whiter”?

[Crooked Lawyer Potter]

The glaze below is a nice satin pearl finish at cone 6 oxidation but its color is a rather drab beige. Any suggestions on how to make it whiter without altering its basic non-color characteristics?
 

VC Matte Base

Custer feldspar.  40

Whiting.  16

Silica.  16

EPK.   10

Frit 3124.   9

Talc.    9

[Dick White]

Try line blending some zircopax into it until it is a white as you prefer.

[Bill Kielb]

1 hour ago, Crooked Lawyer Potter said:

VC Matte Base

Custer feldspar.  40

Whiting.  16

Silica.  16

EPK.   10

Frit 3124.   9

Talc.    9

@Dick White is spot on. Generally a base glaze contains no colorant and the end user colors to taste. This glaze is Val Cushings VC 71 I believe and there are folks who have noted some problems with some bodies. It’s chemistry would infer a gloss but it’s firing range is generally cone 5-6 so it would be interesting to see if it simply becomes a gloss as it’s fired cone 6 and beyond. If it did then that would infer it really is just an under-fired gloss at lower firing temperatures.

Here is a Glazy link from which you may be able to learn more, see some colorant or find variations should you have a need https://glazy.org/recipes/1373

[Min]

The VC 71 has been around for years and I've read many accounts of it being problematic. Spar is high for a cone 6 glaze, boron is low and it will fire to a gloss if taken higher, these all point to it being matte because it's an underfired higher fire glaze, not a properly formulated matte glaze for cone 6.  It's had a few alterations along with name changes over the years. With approx 3 copper carb + 5 rutile it became known as Xavier Warm Jade. Ron Roy altered the Xavier's Warm Jade recipe to be more durable when fired to cone 6 by decreasing the spar, increasing the boron and giving a slight bump to the silica. Much better glaze chemistry wise, it does fire to a gloss. Comparison of the two glazes below.

Obviously it's your choice to use it as is but if adding zircopax to it makes it even more underfired then reduce the silica content of the glaze by about 1/2 the zircopax content that you add. Between 8 - 12% zircopax should give you a solid white.

 

[xinyao]

zr join 5%

[Crooked Lawyer Potter]

Adding the zircopax did the trick!

[Bill Kielb]

9 hours ago, Crooked Lawyer Potter said:

Adding the zircopax did the trick!

Now time to look up colorants and have fun. Tin is a softer white. Some folks combine to get the shade they like.

[Crooked Lawyer Potter]

Here is the difference -- left is standard recipe, right is added zircopax.

[Pres]

If you want a whiter piece yet, use a clay without the speckling of the Manganese, or even more go for a white clay body. I love the speckling, some do not, and if wishing to do brush work or other decoration with under/overglazes use plain bodies.

 

best,

Pres

[Crooked Lawyer Potter]

Thanks. 

I usually do not like the big speckling but sometimes the plain white is a little drab.  So I have been using something I read about once:  steel wool, bisqued, then crumbled to dust and used as an additive to my glazes.  It produces a very nice -- and subtle -- effect that gives some depth and interest to otherwise plain jane surfaces.