GR6-M - Ravenscrag Cone 6 Floating Blue

Modified: 2023-04-15 22:40:26

Plainsman Cone 6 Ravenscrag Slip based version of the popular floating blue recipe.

Material	Amount	Percent
Ravenscrag Slip	40.00	36.7
Ravenscrag Slip 1000F Roast	39.00	35.8
Ferro Frit 3134	20.00	18.3
Ferro Frit 3124	10.00	9.2
Added
Red Iron Oxide	2.00	1.83
Cobalt Oxide	1.00	0.92
Rutile	4.00	3.67
116.00		100

Notes

This recipe is also code numbered G2917.

David Shaner's cone 6 floating blue has been used for many years by thousands of potters. However, the base (the clear to which the colorants are added) is 50:30:20 Nepheline Syenite:Gerstley Borate:Silica. It has serious issues (including slurry gelling because of the partially soluble Gerstley Borate and Nepheline Syenite, consistency and supply issues with Gerstley Borate, susceptibility to blistering and higher thermal expansion because of the high feldspar content). As a consequence, most users thus have had a love-hate relationship with the recipe.

This employs an alternative base recipe into which the iron, cobalt and rutile have been transplanted. The GR6-A 80:20 Ravenscrag:Frit base has been conditioned with a further 10% frit addition to get more crystal development and variegation. This base eliminates the solubility and consistency issues and produces a glaze of lower thermal expansion.

Although more expensive to make than the GA6-C Alberta Slip Rutile Blue (because of the cobalt), this one produces the rich blue without needing the slow-cooling C6DHSC firing schedule (although it still benefits with a more defect-free surface). The recipe originally had 80 parts raw Ravenscrag powder but we have adjusted it to 40:39 raw:roast. Feel free to tune the raw:roast mix to get the exact slurry properties you want. More roast makes the slurry shrink less, dry faster and more powdery; more raw makes it shrink more and dry harder.

For mixing instructions please see the master recipe, GR6-A.

Related Information

A much better Cone 6 Floating Blue

GR6-M Ravenscrag Cone 6 Floating Blue on Plainsman M340 buff stoneware. This glaze also has this variegated visual character on porcelain. Because it has the GR6 base recipe (more information at ravenscrag.com), the slurry has very good working properties in the studio, it is a pleasure to use. This is an excellent showcase for the variegating mechanism of rutile.

Better melting gives Ravenscrag Floating Blue more zip!

GR6-M Ravenscrag cone 6 Floating Blue (center) on Plainsman M340, a buff burning body. On the left is a version having 80:20 Ravenscrag:Frit 3134 (no extra 10% Frit 3124). On the right is GR6-M on porcelain (where the floating effect has been largely lost). It appears the effect benefits from the iron it finds (albeit not much) in the stoneware body.

Ravenscrag Floating Blue on Polar Ice and M370 at Cone 6

These are from the same firing, glazed at the same time and are the same thickness. The floating blue effect is a fragile mechanism and affected even by the small color difference in these bodies. The small amount of extra iron in the M370 affects the glaze character more than expected.

Ravenscrag Cone 6 Floating Blue on porcelain and a red stoneware

The insides are GA6-A Alberta Slip cone 6 base. Outsides are Ravenscrag Floating Blue GR6-M. The firing was soaked at cone 6, dropped 100F, soaked again for half and hour then cooled at 108F/hr until 1400F. The speckles on the porcelain blue glaze are due to agglomerated cobalt oxide (done by mixing cobalt with a little bentonite, drying and pulverizing it into approx 20 mesh size and then adding that to the glaze slurry).

How can you make Ravenscrag Floating Blue dance more?

Here it is fired to cone 8 where the melt obviously has much more fluidity! The photo does not do justice to the variegation and crystallization happening on this surface. Of course it is running alot more, so caution will be needed.

A black engobe transforms the floating blue glaze over it

This is M340 stoneware glaze fired to cone 6 using the C6DHSC schedule. The L3954B engobe fires deep black (it has 10% Mason 6600 black stain). The engobe was applied by pouring and dipping at leather hard stage (inside and partway down the outside). After bisque firing the piece was glazed inside using the base GA6-B Alberta Slip amber base. The outside glaze is Alberta Slip Rutile Blue GA6-C (you are seeing it on the bare buff body near the bottoms and over the black clay surface on the uppers).

Ravenscrag cone 6 floating blue thinner and thicker applications

The body is red-burning Plainsman M390. The firing was dropped and soaked at 2100F for 30 minutes and then dropped at 300F/hr to 1400F. This really helps to produce a dazzling defect-free surface in the GR6-M glaze. These are, of course, mix-your-own recipes and the pieces were dipped to get even coverage.

Close-up of Floating Blue on cone 6 dark/buff burning bodies

Originally popularized by James Chappell in the book The Potter's Complete Book of Clay and Glazes. It is loved and hated. Why? The high Gerstley Borate content makes it finicky. But the magic ingredient is not the GB, it is the rutile, Rutile makes the cobalt and iron dance. This recipe actually produces a number of different mechanisms of variegation. Color and opacity vary with thickness. Small rivulets of more fluid glass flow around more viscous phases producing micro-areas of differing colors and opacities. Titanium crystals sparkle and calcium-borate creates opalescence. Bubbles of escaping gases (from GB) have created pooling. Small black speckles from unground or agglomerated particles of iron are also present. Surprise! This is actually Ravenscrag Floating blue. All the visuals, none of the headaches.

Ravencrag Slip vs Alberta Slip floating blues at cone 6 oxidation

Usable, reliable, non-crazing floating blue glazes are difficult to achieve at cone 6. Not these, they pass all the tests yet fire like the original classic G2826R floating blue from David Shaner. Both have been applied at moderate thickness on Plainsman M325 (using a slurry of about 1.43-1.45 specific gravity, higher values end up getting them on too thick). The Ravenscrag version (left) highlights contours better (the edges are black because of the black engobe underneath). It also produces the blue color whether or not the kiln is slow-cooled (although drop-and-hold PLC6DS schedule usually fires more blue). The Alberta Slip version has zero cobalt so it is less expensive to make (but it does require the C6DHSC slow-cool firing schedule). It produces a deeper color over the L3954F black engobe on these pieces. Both of these produce a wide range of effects with different thicknesses, bodies and firing schedules.

Firing one cone lower improves the glaze result

The mug on the left was fired to cone 6 using the PLC6DS drop-and-hold schedule. The one on the right was fired using the drop-and-hold slow-cool C5DHSC schedule. This is the same body, Plainsman M390. The most visible difference is the outside GR6-M glaze, it is turning out a little different at cone 5, firing a lighter less variegated blue. That being said, it sometimes turns out that way at cone 6 also, so there may be other factors. However, a more important difference is the inside glaze, L3500G. Notice how much more glassy and perfect it is. How is it possible to be so much better at cone 5 than cone 6? The slow-cool is the answer, that firing drops at 150F/hr from 2100F to 1400F.

Ravenscrag floating blue color affected by cooling speed

Ravenscrag Slip really shines in its ability to produce a good floating blue glaze at cone 6, this is the GR6-M recipe. The speed of cooling in the kiln affects the appearance. The mug on the left was cooled faster, using our drop-and-soak PLC6DS firing schedule. The other one was slow-cooled using the C6DHSC schedule. The latter schedule is preferable for these because the G3914A black has a much smoother surface. The blue could be recovered by adding more cobalt.

Links

Recipes	GA6-C - Alberta Slip Floating Blue Cone 6 Plainsman Cone 6 Alberta Slip based glaze the fires bright blue but with zero cobalt.
Recipes	G2826R - Floating Blue Cone 5-6 Original Glaze Recipe Floating Blue is a classic cone 6 pottery glaze recipe from David Shaner. Because of the high Gerstley Borate content it is troublesome, difficult. But there are alternatives.
Recipes	GR6-A - Ravenscrag Cone 6 Clear Glossy Base This Plainsman Cone 6 Ravenscrag Slip base is just the pure material with 20% added frit to make it melt to a glossy natural clear.
Glossary	Reactive Glazes In ceramics, reactive glazes have variegated surfaces that are a product of more melt fluidity and the presence of opacifiers, crystallizers and phase changers.
Glossary	Thixotropy Thixotropy is a property of ceramic slurries. Thixotropic suspensions flow when you want them to and then gel after sitting for a few moments. This phenomenon is helpful in getting even, drip free glaze coverage.

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By Tony Hansen
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