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These samples illustrate 4, 5, 6 & 7% tin oxide added to a transparent. Tin is super expensive (Zircopax costs five times less at time of writing). But consider some advantages of tin. It creates a whiter glaze. A tin-opacified glaze may only need to be half as thick as a zircon-opacified one. Only half the percentage is required in recipes. Tin does not reduce the glaze's thermal expansion as much. On these samples, the higher percentages of tin seem to produce an even better glossy surface. Tin is less likely to cause crawling, a classic issue with high-zircon glazes (it impedes melt fluidity, that is what holds super thickly applied majolica glazes on the ware). Tin is the opposite; even though this recipe is high in strontium, and thus has a high surface tension, there is no indication of crawling with the tin addition. A final issue is cutlery marking, a common problem with zircon-opacified glazes. But not with tin oxide.
Materials |
Tin Oxide
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