Monthly Tech-Tip | No tracking! No ads! |
The glaze on the left (as shown in my account at insight-live.com) is a crystal clear at cone 04. The high frit content minimizes micro-bubbles. The high B2O3 melts it very well (this has 0.66 B2O3, that is three times as high as a typical cone 6 glaze). The recipe on the right is the product of a project to develop a low-thermal-expansion fluid-melt transparent for cone 6 (with added colorants fluid melts produce brilliant and even metallic results and they variegate well). While the balance of fluxes (the red numbers in the formula) is pretty different, look how similar the B2O3, Al2O3 and SiO2 levels are (yellow, red and blue backgrounded numbers in the formula), these mainly determine the melting range. That means that a fluid-melt cone 6 glaze may actually be just a low temperature glaze being overfired to cone 6.
You will see examples of replacing unavailable materials (especially frits), fixing various issues (e.g. running, crazing, settling), making them melt more, adjusting matteness, etc. Insight-Live has an extensive help system (the round blue icon on the left) that also deals with fixing real-world problems and understanding glazes and clay bodies.
Recipes |
G3879 - Cone 04 Transparent Low-Expansion transparent glaze
A super transparent low fire base clear glaze created by reverse engineering a commercial product. |
---|---|
Recipes |
G3806C - Cone 6 Clear Fluid-Melt transparent glaze
A base fluid-melt glaze recipe developed by Tony Hansen. With colorant additions it forms reactive melts that variegate and run. It is more resistant to crazing than others. |
Articles |
What Determines a Glaze's Firing Temperature?
The oxides contributed by glaze materials determine its chemistry. The chemistry is the main factor determining melting behaviour. But the particle sizes, shapes and mineralogies also come in to play. |
Glossary |
Fluid Melt Glazes
Fluid melt glazes and over-melting, over fired, to the point that they run down off ware. This feature enables the development of super-floss and cyrstallization. |
Buy me a coffee and we can talk