Mushi Posted January 9, 2011 Report Share Posted January 9, 2011 My class has come into possession of some new rare-earth metal colorants: neodymium, erbium, and praseodymium (sp?) I have found some testing information here: My link Does anyone have any recipes that contain these new colorants? We will be doing some of our own testing in the near future, and I will try to post any interesting results, if we find any. According to that link, the resulting colors seem fairly constant. Edit: I forgot to mention that we fire redux at cone 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmeriSwede Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 Mushi... I've not personally used these particular rare earth metals with ceramics, but have used them (in addition to uranium pentoxide) in batch mixing of borosilicate glass. The results are breathtaking.... beautiful pastel colors with the addition of a wonderful color fluorescence under ultraviolet light. Can't help you with any recipe as such, but would certainly be interested in seeing photos/descriptions of any future testing/results that you achieve. Perchance starting with a translucent or opaque white base and adding in 2% increments up to about 8% could yield some nice pastels. If I recall I was utilizing about 2%-4% for most of my work in the borosilicate glass. Sorry I can't be of more help but it has been about 25 years since I was doing that work/experimentation and my memory has since faded in the particulars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JBaymore Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 Neodymium and and praseodymium have been around for ceramic use for a long time. I've used both. Blues and yellows, respectively. There is some literature on their use out there... unfortunately can't remember where. CM had an article on many newer rare earth colorants in the past couple of years if I am remembering correctly. Check MSDSs on them. best, ..................john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jessica Knapp Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 The Ceramics Monthly article on rare earth elements used as colorants was written by David Pier and appeared in the September 2002 issue of the magazine, pp. 65-67. I'd suggest doing test batches with transparent, translucent and opaque glaze bases that you like using already, doing a line blend to figure out the percentage needed to get the color you want. Best, Jessica Neodymium and and praseodymium have been around for ceramic use for a long time. I've used both. Blues and yellows, respectively. There is some literature on their use out there... unfortunately can't remember where. CM had an article on many newer rare earth colorants in the past couple of years if I am remembering correctly. Check MSDSs on them. best, ..................john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JBaymore Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Oh god, Jessica! That was 2002!!!!! I'm really getting old.....that article seemed like yesterday. best, ...................john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terraforma Posted January 15, 2011 Report Share Posted January 15, 2011 Ameriswede, Where on earth did you get uranium pentoxide??? That really must have been a long time ago! Earlier this year, I searched for it extensively over a period of several weeks, and the only source I could find wouldn't sell it to me as an individual, and only sold in huge amounts like hundreds of pounds. I read in an old text about what a great yellow color it could give at high fire temps (cone 10...). What cone(s) did you fire it at? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JBaymore Posted January 16, 2011 Report Share Posted January 16, 2011 Ameriswede, Where on earth did you get uranium pentoxide??? It used to be available. I used black uranium oxide for a time in salt glazing (not soda). Early to mid 70s. Gorgeous yellows and oranges. But it turned out the stuff we were geting was actually "hot"...even though the supplier said it was not. Had it tested. Stopped using it once we found out it was not FULLY depleted. best, ................john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmeriSwede Posted January 16, 2011 Report Share Posted January 16, 2011 Ameriswede, Where on earth did you get uranium pentoxide??? That really must have been a long time ago! Earlier this year, I searched for it extensively over a period of several weeks, and the only source I could find wouldn't sell it to me as an individual, and only sold in huge amounts like hundreds of pounds. I read in an old text about what a great yellow color it could give at high fire temps (cone 10...). What cone(s) did you fire it at? Sorry...terraforma.... I wasn't using the uranium pentoxide in ceramics or glazing. I (as a grad student -1986) was given two pounds of the oxide by my instructor while at NYSCC (Alfred). He had used quite a bit on a large lead crystal sculpture in previous years, and this was his leftover. I used it to batch up 200 pounds of borosilicate glass for some sculpture work I was doing at the time. This is one of the pieces I was working on at the time. It traveled to Japan and then found its way to the Glasmuseum at Ebeltoft, Denmark, where it resides today. The bright yellow is the uranium pentoxide batched into a lead crystal glass and the darker green is the oxide batched into a borosilicate glass. Though it does register a little activity on a geiger counter, according to Corning Museum of Glass, it is a very low amount (less than one X-ray/year or something like that). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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