MGBase3 - General Purpose Glossy Base 1 (Mastering Glazes)

Modified: 2025-12-30 04:08:43

From page 92 in Mastering Glazes book

Material	Amount
G-200 Felspar	20.00
Ferro Frit 3134	20.00
Wollastonite	10.00
EPK	20.00
Talc	11.50
Silica	18.50
100.00

Notes

In Mastering Cone 6 Glazes, the General Purpose Glossy Base 1 is designed to be the versatile "chameleon" of the studio. While the Glossy Clear Liner is meant to stay clear, this base is specifically engineered to be the foundation for your own color experiments using oxides and stains.

Key Properties
• Visual Appearance: In its base form, it is a clean, transparent-to-translucent gloss. It is slightly more "active" than the Liner glaze, meaning it has a bit more depth and fluid character.
• The Science: It is a Calcium-Alumina-Silicate glaze. It has a slightly different flux balance than the Clear Liner, which allows it to "accept" colorants more vibrantly. It is designed to work well with Chrome, Cobalt, Copper, and Iron.
• Surface: High-gloss and very reflective. It creates a "wet look" that can make colors pop and appear more saturated.
• Versatility: It is stable enough for functional ware but responsive enough to be used for decorative layering.

Likes (Pros)
• The Perfect "Canvas": This is the best recipe in the book for creating your own "house colors." If you want a specific shade of sky blue or leaf green, you start with this base and add 1–3% of your chosen oxide.
• Excellent Melt: It has a very reliable melt at Cone 6. It flows just enough to smooth out any brush strokes or uneven dipping marks, resulting in a professional, "glassy" finish.
• Strong Color Development: It doesn't "muddy" colors. Blues come out crisp, and greens come out bright.
• Durability: Even though it is more "decorative" than the Liner, it still meets the authors' standards for stability and acid resistance, making it suitable for the outside (and often inside) of dinnerware.

Dislikes (Cons)
• Crazing Risk: Like many glossy glazes, it has a moderate thermal expansion. While it fits most clay bodies, it may craze on low-expansion clays (like some high-iron red stonewares).
• Thickness Sensitivity: If applied too thickly, it can occasionally collect in "pools" at the bottom of a piece. While it isn't as runny as Waterfall Brown, it is more mobile than the High Calcium Mattes.
• Bubbling on Dark Clays: On certain dark, gas-heavy clay bodies, this glossy base can occasionally trap "off-gassing" bubbles, resulting in tiny pinholes if the kiln isn't soaked at the peak temperature.

Related Information

Links

Articles	G1214M Cone 5-7 20x5 glossy transparent glaze This is a base transparent glaze recipe developed for cone 6. It is known as the 20x5 or 20 by 5 recipe. It is a simple 5 material at 20% each mix and it makes a good home base from which to rationalize adjustments.
Articles	G1214W Cone 6 transparent glaze The process we used to improve the 20x5 base cone 6 glaze recipe to produce G1214W.
Firing Schedules	Mastering Glazes Cone 6 Six-step with controlled drops to 1000C and 760C
Typecodes	Recipes from Mastering Glazes Book Descriptions of these glazes often contain over-the-top adjectives like “scientifically formulated”, “perfect”, “exceptional”, “beautifully”, “engineered”, “specifically designed”, “sophisticated”, etc. Of course there are no perfect recipes to be discovered, they all inhabit spaces balancing a dozen different properties, tuning one most often affects one or more of the others. And, recipe is only one thing affecting the finished product, process factors can have even more influence on finished appearance and properties.
Typecodes	Medium Temperature Glaze Recipes Normally fired at cone 5-7 in electric kilns.
Typecodes	Transparent Glaze Recipe Transparent recipes can be difficult to develop because entrained bubbles, crystals and crazing are not hidden by color and opacity. In addition, they must be well melted to give good results. Generally transparent recipes are sought after as liner glazes or bases to which to add opacifiers and colors. Typically work is required to match a transparent glaze to a specific clay body.

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