 Tony Hansen's Thousand-Post TimeLineI am the creator of Digitalfire Insight, the Digitalfire Reference Database and Insight-live.com. ... more 
Texas talc (left) and Montana talc (right)Texas talc contains some amorphous carbon. The carbon is not stand-alone, but as CO2 in the dolomitic part of the ore. It produces 7% LOI between 750-850C. Context: Amtalc-C98, Pioneer 2661 Talc, Silverline 303 Talc, Talc Tuesday 14th August 2018 
Stunning black silky matte glaze at cone 6This contains 6% Mason 6666 gunmetal black stain. The base recipe, G2934, is an excellent balanced-chemistry host for a wide range of stains to produce equally stunning reds, yellows, oranges, etc. The fritted version of the recipe, G2934Y, provides an even better host. This glaze is affected by the ... more Context: G2934Y - Cone 6 Magnesia Matte Low LOI Version, G2934 - Matte Glaze Base for Cone 6 Monday 13th August 2018 
Tuning the degree of gloss on a matte black glazeThese 10 gram balls were fired and melted down onto a tile. The one the left is the original G2934 Plainsman Cone 6 MgO matte with 6% Mason 6666 black stain. On the right the adjustment has a 20% glossy glaze addition to make it a little less matte. Notice the increased flow (the ball has flattened ... more Context: Matte Glaze, Cutlery Marking, Triaxial Glaze Blending Sunday 12th August 2018 
DO NOT leave outsides of functional ware unglazedThis mug is made from the strongest porcelain I have, it is so vitreous that the bare fired surface does not even coffee-stain. So I glazed it only on the inside. That created a time-bomb waiting for hot coffee! Three others did exactly the same. Four other mugs glazed on the outside were fine. Why? ... more Context: Glaze Compression Monday 6th August 2018 
One gram of processed hectorite has a surface area of 750 square meters!A combination of surface area, surface topography, surface chemistry and surface electrolytics determines how plastic a clay is. This material is super plastic. Context: Surface Area Monday 6th August 2018 
Mother Nature's Porcelain - From a Cretaceous Dust Storm!Plainsman Clays did 6 weeks of mining in June-July 2018 in Ravenscrag, Saskatchewan. We extracted marine sediment layers of the late Cretaceous period. The center portion of the B layer is so fine that it must have wind-transported (impossibly smooth, like a body that is pure terrasig)! The feldspar ... more Context: B Clay, Clay and dinosaur country in southern Saskatchewan, Vitrification Monday 6th August 2018 
Pinholing at a cone 6 stoneware mug. Why?It was put into the kiln before it was dry (from glazing). The kiln was fired fairly fast (without using a drop-and-hold firing schedule). These glazes have significant boron, they melt early and seal the surface. But water vapor can remain until surprisingly high temperatures. And it needs to get ... more Context: Pinholing, Firing Schedule, Glaze Blisters Monday 30th July 2018 
Outside tenmoku glaze meets inside transparent in a straight line at the rimAn example of how a liner glaze can meet another at the rim of a piece. This it quite simple to do. The technique is especially practical where mug walls are thin and cannot absorb enough water to dry the glaze after immerse-dipping. It is essential where the outer glaze is potentially leachable, or ... more Context: How to Liner-Glaze a Mug, Liner Glaze Monday 23rd July 2018 
Layering glazes to get variegationExample of the variegation produced by layering a white glaze of stiffer melt (a matte) over a darker glaze of more fluid melt (a glossy). This was fired at cone 6. The body is a stoneware and the glazes employ calcium carbonate to encourage bubbling during melting, each bubble reveals the color and ... more Context: Reactive Glazes, Glaze Layering Monday 23rd July 2018 
An additive that will make a glaze crawlLight magnesium carbonate has been added to a low temperature terra cotta white glaze (about 10%). It induces crawling. It also mattes the glaze because it sources MgO. “Snakeskin” recipes to produce this effect can call for much higher percentages, but of course, fired properties (like color, gloss, thermal expansion) will be much more affected. Context: Light Magnesium Carbonate, Crawling Thursday 19th July 2018 | Contact Us:Use the contact pages within or outside your account at Insight-Live.com 
Login to your online account Chemistry plus physics. The on-line successor to desktop Insight. Get an account for as little as $15. It does so much more. 
Still available for Mac, PC, Linux Interactive glaze chemistry calculations (legacy, no longer supported) What people have said about digitalfire• I, personally, think Digital Fire's contribution to potters, and the Ceramic industry as a whole, is absolutely awesome, and I thank the gods there are people like you who have the knowledge and energy to provide us simple artist/educators with such exceptional tools. • Go look at Tony Hansens page and look at Insite. Incredible amounts of information. He has a great explanation of .. Shivering ---and the opposite----- Crazing. Cause and solution. • Your materials database has been the best source of information for me for a long time. Even most of the European frits are in there and this is not true for many books. • I knew nothing about chemistry, so I have already learned a great deal from the information you've so generously provided on-line. • Again, thanks for building a website that has been very influential in how I look at ceramics in general, and that has been such a valuable resource to my work as a student, production potter, and chemist. • Thank you for all your hard work. • I regularly use your website for information on many technical aspects of glaze chemistry. I find it extremely useful and thank you for your service. Click here to see all 191 What people have said about Insight-Live• Just read your page and I am awestruck! • I have went to this website for technical info for over 4 years now :) IT is absolutely amazing!!! • Your site is a crucially important one, and I'm happy to help you, even in small ways. • Awesome site...you do great work! • Love the email I got today about the clear glaze because I have an account! Thank you for all you do. These emails are a great idea. • Love Insight-live. Have been using it a few months and now that I know my way around a bit, I have come to rely on it. Love having a web based program, since I bounce between Windows on several machines and also a Chromebook. • I love your software and I really appreciate you being there when I need help. Keep on being amazing. I am still enjoying insight every day. You were right - having it in the cloud is a huge advantage. Click here to see all 101 |
