GA6-G - Alberta Slip Lithium Brown Cone 6

Modified: 2024-08-11 02:42:45

Plainsman Cone 6 Alberta Slip based glaze.

Material	Amount	Percent
Alberta Slip	40.00	37.7
Alberta Slip 1000F Roasted	35.00	33.0
Ferro Frit 3195	21.00	19.8
Lithium Carbonate	5.00	4.7
Alumina Calcined	5.00	4.7
Added
Tin Oxide	4.00	3.77
110.00		100

Notes

One of the most popular Albany Slip glazes was 11% lithium, 4% tin oxide and 85% Albany Slip. This recipe reduces the lithium by more 50% eliminating the shivering problems that were common. This also employs a frit to help melt the glaze (in the absence of the 6% lithium carbonate). The added alumina darkens the color and slightly dulls the gloss (leave it out if you want).

Visually, this glaze works very well on porcelain showing variegated effects even on smooth surfaces, especially with variations in thickness. However, it may craze on porcelains, add more lithium to fix that.

Our G3933EF is similar, it employs 6% lithium carbonate.

Related Information

Roasting Alberta and Ravenscrag Slips at 1000F: Essential for good glazes

Roasted Alberta Slip (right) and raw powder (left). These are thin-walled 5 inch cast bowls, each holds about 1 kg. I hold the kiln at 1000F for 30 minutes. Why do this? Because Alberta Slip is a clay, it shrinks on drying (if used raw the GA6-B and similar recipes will crack as they dry and then crawl during firing). Roasting eliminates that. Calcining to 1850F sinters some particles together (creating a gritty material) while roasting to 1000F produces a smooth, fluffy powder. Technically, Alberta Slip losses 3% of its weight on roasting so I should use 3% less than a recipe calls for. But I often just swap them gram-for-gram.

Alberta Slip used in the common lithium-tin cone 6 glaze

This is 85% Alberta Slip, 11% lithium and 4% tin fired at cone 6 in oxidation. Like the original Albany version, it has a very low thermal expansion (because of the high lithium content) and likes to shiver on many clay bodies.

A variation of Albany lithium brown glaze

Alberta Slip 75, lithium carbonate 10, tin oxide 4, nepheline syenite 11, calcined alumina 5.

A classic Albany glaze that often shivers

These mugs have experienced very serious shivering. This is an Albany Slip glaze with 10% lithium carbonate, it is known to have a very low thermal expansion. This problem can be solved by reducing the amount of lithium or adding high-expansion sodium or potassium. However these fixes will likely affect the appearance.

Adding 6% lithium carbonate to an Alberta Slip glaze does this

Left is G3933A, it is an 80:20 mix of our matte and glossy cone 6 base recipes (plus a mix of iron oxide, tin oxide and rutile). The body is Plainsman Coffee Clay. Because of repeated issues with crawling a project was started to create the same effect using Alberta Slip to supply as much of the chemistry as possible. Along that road, the opportunity arose to add lithium (to duplicate Amaco PC-32, a classic Albany/Lithium recipe). That is the glaze on the mug on the right, G3933G1, it has 6% lithium carbonate. Lithium is a super powerful melter, turning this into a very reactive glaze! In 2023 a 500ml jar of this glaze required about $7 worth of lithium carbonate. That makes this an ideal candidate to prepare as a brushing glaze - a benefit of that is better control of thickness, a key to the visual effect this gives.

Links

Recipes	GA6-H - Alberta Slip Cone 6 Black Pure Alberta Slip can be made into a black adding only 20% frit and 3% black stain
Recipes	GA6-G1 - Alberta Slip Lithium Brown Cone 6 Low Expansion Plainsman Cone 6 Alberta Slip based glaze. It can be found among others at http://albertaslip.com.
Firing Schedules	Plainsman Cone 6 Electric Standard Used in the Plainsman lab to fire clay test bars in our small kilns
Typecodes	Alberta Slip Glaze Recipes Alberta Slip is a substitute for Albany Slip that has gained a life of its own so that there are now many glazes based specifically on it.

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By Tony Hansen
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