A gunmetal glaze I have wanted my whole life!After 40+ years of making pottery I finally have a perfect gunmetal black. It has an incredible silky glaze. It does not cutlery mark. It does not craze on anything. It is easy to clean. This is G2934Y with 6% Mason 6600 black stain firing using the PLC6DS schedule. I had to tune it a bit, adding ... more Context: Gunmetal glaze Sunday 24th November 2019 
This is how much casting slip 10,000 grams of powder makesTo-the-brim the bucket holds 8.8 liters (2.43 Canadian gal, 1.9 US gal). The slip itself weighs 14 kg (30 lb). It has a specific gravity of between 1.75 and 1.8. The slurry was power-mixed in a larger bucket. Context: Slip Casting, Deflocculation Friday 22nd November 2019 
Is the clay too stiff to use? Maybe not.Clays of very high plasticity often stiffen during storage in the bag. This is Plainsman Polar Ice, it contains 4% VeeGum. This slug is like a brick, yet it will loosen up completely. But it is far too stiff to attempt wedging. However simply throwing it on the floor a few times (turning it each ... more Context: Clay Stiffness, A 3-minute Mug with Plainsman Polar Ice Thursday 21st November 2019 
Serious blistering at low fire: How to fix itAn extreme example of blistering in a piece fired at cone 03. The glaze is Ferro Frits 3195 and 3110 with 15% ball clay applied to a bisque piece. Is LOI the issue? No, this glaze has a low LOI. Low bisque? No, it was bisqued at cone 04. Thick glaze layer? Yes, partly. Holding the firing longer at ... more Context: Blisters, Drop-and-Soak Firing, Glaze Blisters Wednesday 20th November 2019 
Deep, deep blue without any cobalt. How?These have to be seen to be believed, it is the deepest, richest blue we have ever produced. This is Plainsman M340 fired to cone 6. Black-firing L3954B engobe (having 10% Burnt (not raw) Umber instead of the normal 10% Zircopax) was applied inside and partway down the outsides (at the stiff ... more Context: Cobalt Oxide, GA6-C - Alberta Slip Rutile Blue Cone 6 Wednesday 20th November 2019 
The matteness of this glaze depends on the cooling rateThis is the G2934Y matte cone 6 recipe with a red stain (Mason 6021). The one on the left was fired using the C6DHSC slow-cool schedule. The one on the right was fired using the drop-and-soak PLC6DS schedule. The only difference in the two schedules is what happens after 2100F on the way down (the ... more Context: G2934Y - Cone 6 Magnesia Matte Low LOI Version, Matte Glaze, Firing Schedule, Plainsman Cone 6 Slow Cool (Reactive glazes) Wednesday 20th November 2019 
What position should the cone be for correct firing?Four degrees F. These are self-supporting cones, use these. I was consistently getting the cone on the left using a custom-programmed firing schedule to 2204F. However Orton recommends that the tip of the self supporting cone should be even with the top of the base, not the bottom. So I changed the ... more Context: Interpreting Orton Cones, Cones, Cone 6 Drop-and-Soak Firing Schedule, Plainsman Cone 6 Slow Cool (Reactive glazes) Wednesday 20th November 2019 
The amount of encapsulated stain needed for intense colorThis is about 1/2 gallon of glaze with 150 grams of yellow stain ready to mix in. That stain retails for about $30 so its cost alone is about $60 for each gallon (in 2017). But the incredible color it produces cannot be done in any other practical way. Context: Encapsulated Stains Thursday 14th November 2019 
Here is why quartz is good in clay bodiesThe piece on the left is 65% ball clay and 35% nepheline syenite. The one on the right is 65% kaolin and 35% nepheline syenite. Both fire vitreous at cone 6. But the glaze is crazing on the kaolin and not on the ball clay. This is because the ball clay contains significant quartz, that raises the thermal expansion and that puts the squeeze on the glaze and prevents the crazing. Thursday 14th November 2019 
A terra cotta body fired from cone 06 (bottom) to 4Terra cotta bodies are more volatile in the kiln than stonewares. They mature rapidly over a narrower range of temperatures, that process is accompanied by dramatic changes in fired color, density and fired strength. These bars are fired (bottom to top) at cone 06, 04, 03, 02, 2 and 4. This is ... more Context: Maturity, Terra cotta Friday 8th November 2019 | Contact Us:Use the contact pages within or outside your account at Insight-Live.com 
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Still available for Mac, PC, Linux Interactive glaze chemistry calculations (legacy, no longer supported) What people have said about digitalfire• I always visit this site, found very helpful to make my own ceramic composition and now I need your software to use for advanced ceramic. • Thanks for sharing so much great information! • All your info on glaze chemistry and material characteristics are very informative and great catalysts for pushing me to take things a bit further. Most appreciated. • I found your site while looking up cone 10 glazes on google. I must say, it has been of significant help to me as i recently set up a workshop and am preparing to produce some pottery after 30 yrs. in the construction industry as a superintendent. Thanks for what you've done here...! • I use Digitalfire almost every day for reference to questions about materials. And as a relative newby to the industry and coming from an art background, my technical knowledge is limited to my own experiences, what I can find online and what is available in books and literature. I just wanted to thank you for all the work you have done for the ceramics community. Your insights and technical knowledge have become indispensable to many in the ceramics community, including me. • I am so glad I found your site, I have been looking for a site with this type of good information. • Thanks for your website! I found it greatly informative and useful in my research work on high temperature ceramic materials. Click here to see all 191 What people have said about Insight-Live• I'm glad I was of some small service. Your whole venture is a marvel. All the best as we go forward. • First I want to thank you for the service you're providing the ceramics community at large. • I just want to say THANK YOU for this incredible database of information. Thank you, thank you, thank you! • Thanks for doing the timeline. I’ve told you before but it never hurts to say it again, this is great stuff and I get so much info from your posts. Extremely valuable! • Thanks so much this info is so great!! • I simply want to let you know that the digitalfire reference library is a treasure. Every time I look it up I learn something new, and I have a hard time to tear myself away. I have a number of books on my shelf, but if I had to choose just one reference source, it would be digitalfire. There is an enormous amount of work behind all the entries in the library. For me, it has enriched my practice and helped me advance in a way that cannot be measured. • I am a Brazilian potter and, despite my difficulty with the English language, I have learned a lot from this site. I want to thank you very much for the immense help you give me in the "most difficult times". Click here to see all 124 |
