Mason stains in the G2926B base glaze at cone 6

This glaze, G2926B, is our main glossy base recipe. Stains are a much better choice for coloring it than raw metal oxides. Other than the great colors they produce here, there are a number of things worth noticing. Stains are potent; the percentages needed are normally much less than for metal oxides. Staining a transparent glaze produces a transparent color, it is more intense where the laydown is thicker - this is often desirable in highlighting contours and designs. For pastel shades, add an opacifier (e.g. 5-10% Zircopax, more stain might be needed to maintain the color intensity). The chrome-tin maroon 6006 does not develop well in this base (alternatives are G2916F or G1214M). The 6020 manganese alumina pink is also not developing here (it is a body stain). Caution is required with inclusion stains (like #6021). Bubbling, as is happening here, is common - this can be mitigated by adding 1-2% Zircopax. And it’s easy to turn any of these into brushing or dipping glazes.

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When using stains, customize the percentage, host glaze and firing schedule

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These are G2926B clear glazes with stains added and fired at cone 6. The one on the left has 11% Mason 6021 encapsulated red. It is pebbling the surface (even with 2% zircon), it may be at the upper end of its firing range. Possible solutions are faster firing up and down to give the stain less chance to decompose. Or firing at cone 5 instead. Or a drop-and-hold firing schedule. Or a lower percentage, that could impart a bit of variation where it is thicker and thinner (like the purple one). A different host glaze, perhaps one with less boron. The purple one has 10% Mason 6304, it is not affecting the glossy glaze surface. But the percentage needs to be higher to prevent the wash-out of color where it is applied thinner.

G2926B cone 6 transparent liner glaze: Proven, reliable, durable

A hand made pottery mug with clear liner glaze

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While colorful and layered glazes on the outsides of pieces get lots of praise and glory transparent or white glazes providing the functional surface on the insides of pieces often get little attention from potters. Really, what good is an attractive piece if the food surface is crazing, blistering, leaching or cutlery marking? Or if it converts the piece into a time bomb? This cone 6 liner glaze, G2926B, is an example of how I found a glaze, recognized its potential and then adjusted the recipe to resist crazing on our clay bodies, fire durable and leach resistant act as a base to host colorants, opacifiers and variegators. I get the best fired results using the C6DHSC firing schedule and very good performance as a dipping glaze when the slurry is thixotropic. One of the reasons this recipe is so widely used is that it is well-documented having a code number that Google indexes. Drinking from a mug having a quality and fitted functional surface and a nice crisp line dividing the outside and inside glazes instills pride in me as the maker. What is the outside glaze? It is the G2934Y matte base recipe plus 8% Mason 6027 stain. The clay is MNP which I make myself.

Here is my setup to make brushing glazes and underglazes by-the-jar

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Although I promote DIY dipping glazes, you can also make DIY brushing glazes. Let's make a low SG version of G2934BL. Weigh out a 340g batch of dipping glaze powder. Include 5g Veegum (to gel the slurry to enable more than normal water) and 5g CMC gum (to slow drying and impart brushing properties). Measure 440g of water initially (adjusting later if needed). Shake-mix all the powder in a plastic bag. Pour it into the water, which is blender mixing on low speed, and finish with 20 seconds on high speed. This just fills a 500ml jar. In subsequent batches, I adjust the Veegum for more or less gel, the CMC for slower or faster drying and the water amount for thicker or thinner painted layers. Later I also assess whether the CMC gum is being degraded by microbial attack - often evident if the slurry thins and loses its gel. Dipping glaze recipes can and do respond differently to the gums. Those having little clay content work well (e.g. reactive and crystalline glazes). If bentonite is present it is often best to leave it out. Recipes having high percentages of ball clay or kaolin might work best with less Veegum. Keeping good notes (with pictures) is essential to reach the objective here: Good brushing properties. We always use code-numbering (in our group account at Insight-live.com) and write those on the jars and test pieces. This is so worthwhile doing that I make quality custom labels for each jar!

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Materials	Stains Mason
Materials	Mason 6600 Black Stain A cobalt-containing stain useful in bodies, engobes and glazes at a wide range of temperatures.
Materials	Mason 6021 Red Stain An encapsulated red stain, it has proven better than any other red we have ever tried for glazes. And it works in bodies.
Articles	Concentrate on One Good Glaze It is better to understand and have control of one good base glaze than be at the mercy of dozens of imported recipes that do not work. There is a lot more to being a good glaze than fired appearance.
Glossary	Cone 6 Also called "middle temperature" by potters, cone 6 (~2200F/1200C) refers to the temperature at which most hobby and pottery stonewares and porcelains are fired.
Glossary	Ceramic Stain Ceramic stains are manufactured powders. They are used as an alternative to employing metal oxide powders and have many advantages.
Glossary	Base Glaze Understand your a glaze and learn how to adjust and improve it. Build others from that. We have bases for low, medium and high fire.
Glossary	Medium Temperature These are stoneware glazes that fire in the range of 1200C (2200F). They often contain boron to assist with melting.
Glossary	Colorant In ceramics and pottery, colorants are added to glazes as metal oxides, metal-oxide-containing raw materials or as manufactured stains.
Recipes	G2926B - Cone 6 Whiteware/Porcelain transparent glaze A base transparent glaze recipe created by Tony Hansen, it fires high gloss and ultra clear with low melt mobility.

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