Is it impossible to get a good clear over-glaze for cone 6 brush decorated stoneware?

The mug on the right is terra cotta slipware firing at cone 04 using underglazes and a leaded transparent over-glaze (lead glazes are still commonly used in many parts of the world and considered safe). Mug on the left: This potter wants to use the same technique on cone 6 stoneware. Pretty well all cone 6 transparents depend on a boron frit (or Gerstley Borate or Ulexite) to melt them, this is no different. But it produces micro-bubble clouding and boron blue even though it is only slightly thick. Also, there are many more surface defects. The colors are washed out, partly because of the clouding but also because these commercial underglazes are overfired by cone 6, they are beginning to melt and diffuse into the clear overglaze (lightening their color). Achieving the warm brown color thus requires a more refractory underglaze (possibly with an addition of some terra-cotta colored stain). A better transparent glaze, better able to shed bubbles coupled with a drop-and-hold firing would also help. Finally, careful control of the glaze thickness and quality of laydown would also help. Preparing it as a brushing glaze, at least for application on the outsides, would enable tight control of thickness being applied and enable dense laydown.

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Why dipping transparent glazes may not cover underglazes well

Underglaze fails converage by transparent

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Underglaze brushstrokes were applied to this test cup at the leather hard stage (lower left) and then bisque fired on. On the lower right a ball of the pure underglaze emerged from the same bisque firing, notice that it is certainly fusing enough to seal the surface of the bisque. Notice what happened on the upper left: Although the bisque piece was immersed in a dipping glaze the underglaze is not covering. Yet on the upper right a just-applied transparent brushing glaze has covered well (although three coats were needed with plenty of drying time between). Why is this? Brushing underglazes contain a lot of gum, it makes them spread well like paint - and dry hard, impervious and non-absorbent. And the frit they contain makes them fire even denser. Manufacturers of brushing underglazes assume that gummed brushing glazes will also be used over them and thus no coverage issues will occur. This being said, a thixotropic dipping glaze may cover. Or a first coat dipping glaze.

UK Slipware: A Tradition of Terra Cotta and Lead Glaze

No borosilicate glaze can do this

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The traditional UK slipware is possible because of the brilliant gloss and hyper transparency of glaze made using lead bisilicate frits. The lead glaze interacts with the colors in underlying slips, dissolving and feathering them (as enabled by the time and temperature of the kiln). Interactions with iron produce warm colors. Ware is bisque fired after the decorating and drying (lower left), then dipped in the leaded glaze. Photo courtesy of Russell Kingston, Lynmouth Slipware Pottery.

When a DIY black underglaze makes sense

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Black brushwork needs to go on thick enough in one brushstroke. Commercial products we have don't do that - thus my motivation to work on this. Another issue is that they try to cover too wide a firing range (thus they melt too much at the high end and not enough at the low end). I am experimenting on cone 6 Polar Ice porcelain jiggered bowls using G2926B dipping glaze. The base underglaze recipe here is a 90:10 MNP:nepheline syenite mix (you could use your own porcelain instead of MNP and feldspar instead of nepheline). To that, I add 15% black stain, 1.5% CMC gum and 5% bentonite. With the CMC gum and bentonite, and blender mixing, a brushable consistency that stays put can be achieved at a fairly low water content compared to commercial products (enabling it to go on thicker in a single brush stroke). Assuming application at leather hard state, the drying and firing shrinkage can be matched to the body by varying the plasticity of the porcelain used (e.g. the percentage of bentonite it contains). And the percentage of stain can be tuned for enough color but no bleeding, bubble clouding or crystallization. And we can adjust the degree of maturity by varying the proportions of MNP and Nepheline (commercial underglazes often melt too much by cone 6 and fade and diffuse as a result), this one stays opaque black.

Underglazes suitable for making silk screen transfers are another special case. The ideal one needs to cover well like this one. But it also needs to gel and harden enough to hang onto the paper but not so hard that it does not separate and transfer to the ware. Commercial products for brushing are unlikely to be optimal so it makes sense to mix your own and experiment with different amounts of gum.

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Glossary	Engobe Engobes are high-clay slurries that are applied to leather hard or dry ceramics. They fire opaque and are used for functional or decorative purposes. They are formulated to match the firing shrinkage and thermal expansion of the body.
Glossary	Underglaze An intensely pigmented highly opaque non-melting ceramic material mix meant to adhere best to leather hard pottery and fire-fit the body. Often transparently overglazed. Starter recipes.

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