Cone 4 Neutral Glaze Test Notes

Tim Carlson October 16, 2011

Conventions in these notes: Here in these notes, I take a break from the standards I normally use. These notes are primarily in units by volume except where I specify by weight. More specically, only the cone 4 eutectic tests I made are actually in parts by weight; all others are by volume to enable quick generation of tests. The purpose of doing tests in this manner is to simplify the initial series of tests since I am starting from scratch. Had I a base glaze to start from, everything would be by weight; note that once I suspect that a glaze could be formed from the correct proportions, the units will be converted to proportions by weight. Also, none of these glazes are normalized by molecular unity nor by 100g recipes; instead, these recipes are listed by parts since calculations which involve the Natural numbers are much simpler. As well, at RCTC, these glazes were red to Cone () 4 in a neutral / lightly reduced atmosphere.

Introduction

I nd myself in the predicament that I am a traveling teacher, essentially having been transient in my employment locations over the course of my career. Interestingly, this year, the studio I nd myself attached to is in a state of transition. The events have transpired in this way: last school-year, the studio operated a 10 reduction gas red kiln as well as an anagama and a wood/salt kiln, all principally 10 reduction. Over the summer there was a change to a low re clay body with an upper limit for ring of 4. The gas red kiln is now for ring to 4 in a neutral atmosphere. So on my arrival at the school 1

in the Fall, I was greeted with the opportunity to learn and work at a much lower temperature than I have ever before. Of course, my preoccupation with glaze and texture has lead me to try many new sorts of things! Note that as I am unaware of the impetus for these changes, but I recall the idea that people are trying to use less energy overall as part of a responsibility trend; there have been enough studies completed which mark the signicantly less energy usage for ring to cones below 10. See www.studiopotter.org Volume 5, No 2 by Val Cushing in November 1976. Note that I am enthusiastically trying to take advantage of a new opportunity to learn. Included below is a mention of Google pointing me to a valuable article on CeramicArtsDaily.org, but I also feel the need to mention another site Google directed me to which is a database of phase diagrams (a technical listing of eutectics). The site is www.sgte.org/fact/documentation. With the available data on this website, there should be plenty of ideas for line blend tests and for triaxial blends for investigating new glazes and glaze bases. I hope that this collection of notes provides the opportunity to follow along with my thoughts and eorts during my year at this new studio. Since I am presented with this unique opportunity, I begin by taking advantage of the sparse availability of dierent glaze bases at the studio in the ring range of 4.

Eutectic Tests

The rst thought which occurred to me is to try and nd a eutectic blend which has a melting point at the range which we were ring to. Google provided me with this trusty Ceramic Arts Daily article and an idea that I could try! The eutectic listed in the article is: Eutectic Recipe Alumina Oxide (Al2 O3 ) 14.75 Calcium Oxide (CaO) 23.25 Silica (SiO2 ) 62 100 Since Calcium Oxide is not readily available for use in a glaze, it was necessary to convert this formula to a useful form, i.e. substituting the use of Whiting (CaCO3 ) for the Calcium Oxide. As well, I chose to use EPK (Kaolin) as a substitute for the Aluminum Oxide. But the chemistry of these 2

substitutions is the real trick. It was necessary to convert the weights listed in the recipe above to an equivalent number of molecules, or more precisely in chemistry terms, moles. Then, using the EPK as the rst ingredient, you can nd that 37.309g of Kaolin provides 14.75g of Al2 O3 AND provides 17.353g of Silica as well as a bunch of H2 O molecules which are neglected since they (hopefully) will be released in the ring. Then with the assumption that Whiting is the only source of Calcium (meaning that EPK does not contain Calcium), we can nd that 41.518g of Whiting provide 23.25g of Calcium Oxide, which requires only the additional 44.647g of Silica to complete the recipe using ingredients found in nearly any studio. This recipe is essentially the one listed below as the Eutectic Base Glaze, with the additional modication of normalizing my recipe to EPK=35g. Notice that this section has all the weights specied by grams. Eutectic Base Eutectic Base Glaze Kaolin 35g Whiting 39g Silica 42g As can be seen in this picture, the mix didnt quite melt. It did begin to fuse and even on the edges where the glaze was thin, started to melt. The edge melt began to interact with the mix and started to show a brown/green matte appearance, likely due to the interaction of the clay/mix interface. I suspect that this mix is right on the edge of melting at the temperatures we red to; not just because of the clay/mix interface action, but the hardness of the fusing and the cracking of the red mix behaved much like the Sperry Mud Crack Glaze consisting of a 50/50 mix of Neph Sye/Magnesium Carb in a 10 ring.

Eutectic with Yellow Ochre Eutectic with Iron Kaolin 35g Whiting 39g Silica 42g Yellow Ochre 20g As shown in this picture, with the addition of 20 parts by weight of Yellow Ochre, a ne satin/matte surface is produced, though the color is of a green chocolate. This additional information leads me to think that the iron is behaving as a ux or activator in this glaze, just enough to push it over the edge to melt. There also appears a possibility of light crawling with this glaze. Would titanium act as a viscosity stabilizer for this glaze? Or would it cause the texture to change drastically? Maybe for the better? Would Magnesium reduce the surface tension likely due to the high Calcium content? This appears to have potential for more tests, especially a runny-ness test, i.e. how it behaves on a vertical surface and the texture it achieves. Eutectic with Yellow Ochre and Strontium Carbonate Eutectic, Iron+Strontium Kaolin Whiting Silica Yellow Ochre Strontium Carbonate 35g 39g 42g 20g 20g

This mixture shows the deep rich brown of a high iron glaze and also crawls as if it were a fake-ash type of glaze. Where it is thin, it is a greenish brown, much like a fake ash glaze. The tonal depth of this glaze with respect to its thickness seems to lend it

a pleasant quality. Would rutile lighten the color and possibly stabilize it a little more? This one is denitely on the list for more tests since a nice fake ash glaze would work nicely with raised slip decorated items. Try adding Magnesium Carbonate, or substitute Dolomite for some of the Whiting.

Other Questions
As I made up the glaze recipe, I began to wonder about the possibility of substituting other elements for the Calcium, such as Barium and Strontium. Since Barium is unavailable, I think an attempt to use Strontium as a replacement for part or all of the Calcium is an acceptable idea at a 3 : 2 proportion from the consideration of the molecular weights. This presents a good opportunity for

10 Crystalline Base Glaze at 4

Another idea which occurred to me was to use the recipe for a 10 crystalline glaze at 4 temperatures and see what happens. So far I have neglected to take pictures, but listed below is the recipe along with my observations and questions for revisions. The texture of the glaze is a dry Underred 10 crystalline matte with chunks of un-uxed zinc Renamed: Canary? 55g oxide in it. The color is quite an at- Frit 3110 35g tractive yellow, hence the suggestion Zinc Oxide of canary; and there appears to be Silica 10g some motion in the surface of this Titanium 10g glaze showing that 4 is a great tem- Rutile 4g perature for the maturation of this glaze and that the time at temperature is fantastic in that the viscosity does not decrease to a level where the glaze becomes so uid that it runs significantly. Im thinking the texture is possibly from the formation of crystals rather than the the incomplete melting of the glaze. Some directions I would like to take are: add Lithium Carbonate (5g)/100, (5g)/100 TiO2 and (2g)/100 of Rutile to the current batch Try a simple reduction of the Zinc Oxide down to 25g or even 20g 5

 try iron oxide of various levels for color, try: copper carbonate ilmenite ?Manganese? cobalt ?tungsten sulde? ?nickel carbonate?

Line Blends

Here, I made attempts to create quick and dirty line blends of basic materials which were available at the time. Soon I will do more tests of line blends (always quick and dirty, using volume portions for initial tests), but I will also be including a section of triaxial blends as well. I hope to stumble across some good possibilities for base glazes using these line blends. Of course, theres always the hope that these tests can produce a rich, wide range of a color palette using only the simple metal oxide color inducing ingredients of Iron, Rutile, Ilmenite, Titanium, Copper, and the modiers of Calcium, Magnesium, Lithium, Tin, Zinc, and Strontium. I do like to use other ingredients, but I currently nd the others to be unavailable at the studio. One of my specic goals is to produce a deep iron red; the ideas for developing such a glaze will be one of my rst attempts with a triaxial blend.

Frit 3134 and Ravenscrag Slip.1

Listed asTest Letter,(Frit 3134, Ravenscrag Slip)

A,(1,0)

B,(3,1)

C,(2,2)

D,(2,3)

E,(1,2)

F,(1,3)

Comments and Notes. For Test A, I wanted to see how Frit 3134 behaved simply on its own. As a glaze, it is a little milky and blue, but it crazes badly. The crazing is most likely due to the high linear coecient of thermal expansion. In general, not too bad except for the crazing. For Test B, the blend is 3 parts Frit 3134 and 1 part Ravenscrag Slip. As a glaze, it has denite possibilities. It also has a milkiness and runny-ness associated with it. One thing which is not really noticeable in the picture is the slight pitting occurring in the surface of the glaze. For Test C, the blend is 50-50 by volume. This is a cream colored solid glaze which might be reasonable for coloration by metal oxides. It appears to be stable, slightly runny, though it also seems to have a slight pitting occurring in it. For Test D, the blend is 2 parts Frit 3134 and 3 parts Ravenscrag Slip. Here the glaze seems to be much more stable, with a milky lm over
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Remember that this is in proportions by volume!

sections of the surface. Might be very interesting with metal oxides in it; this blend should be explored more. Test E had 1 part Frit 3134 and 2 parts Ravenscrag Slip. The milkiness occurred where thick with hints of blue, but where thin, appeared green. Is the green due to iron interactions from the clay body? Also, not quite noticeable in the picture, there seems to be a satin surface characteristic which might be worthwhile to explore as well. And Test F has a boring pale green satin surface with some appearance of surface pulling and cracking, as if the glaze melted, but not quite with everything dissolving into the melt. Reminds me of pale green suede. Other Questions. Possibly it might be worthwhile to

Bone Ash and Alberta Slip with just a hint of Frit 3110.

Listed asTest Letter,(Bone Ash, Alberta Slip, Frit 3110)

A,(1,0,0)

B,(5,1,1)

C,(4,2,1)

D,(3,3,1)

E,(2,4,1)

F,(1,5,1)

Comments and Notes. Test A contains straight bone ash. I know that it doesnt melt at 10, but I couldnt help myself doing a quick comparison to a melt close to it in this 4 ring. As expected, it was an unfused dry powder which crumbled apart when poked at. Test B, 5 parts Bone Ash with 1 part Alberta Slip and 1 part Frit 3110, is a hard white fused mass with deep cracks. Without Alberta Slip would this make a nice 4 sculptural glaze like the Sperry Mud Crack? For Test C, theres 4 parts Bone Ash with 2 parts Alberta Slip and Frit 3110, theres more shrink, and a little bit of coloration from the iron in the Alberta. Test D contains equal parts Bone Ash and Alberta slip with a little Frit 3110 included in proportions (3:3:1). This produced a nice coloration but the texture is rough, indicating incomplete melting. But on the edge, theres a nice hint of red like an Ohata Kaki glaze. This is one Im looking for and want to develop. Test E is a combination of 2 parts Bone Ash and 4 parts Alberta Slip with 1 part Frit 3110. It has the appearance of a nice sculptural glaze, but the color is brown with a light tone of green. Just as it appears. Test F actually looks like it uxed over. Theres 1 part Bone Ash, 5 parts Alberta Slip, and 1 part Frit 3110. Also, just like it looks, though theres an appearance of cracks under the top surface layer. Other Questions. With this line blend, the middle test, Test D, shows a dark maroon color though with a rough texture, indicating an incomplete melt and under-ring. This gives me distinct hope that an iron red can be developed for 4 neutral ring. Im attempting a triaxial blend based on these three ingredients with a small bit of Talc included since Magnesium appears to promote the red coloration in 10 glazes. Another comment which is important to note with this line blend is that there appears to be a little fuming going on with the bone ash. That is, 9

there is an area surrounding each test where the bare clay appears to have a deposit which interacted with it; this diameter appears to diminish with respect to the proportional amount of bone ash present in the test. Is this fuming from the phosphorous being released? Or a separate component in the Bone Ash? Is there a loss of mass of the Bone Ash due to sublimation?

Frit 3195 and Silica.

Listed asTest Letter,(Frit 3195, Silica)

A,(5,1)

B,(4,2)

C,(3,3)

D,(2,4)

E,(1,5)

Comments and Notes. Apparently this series of Frit 3195 and Silica is pretty benign. There doesnt appear to be any benet of adding Silica to Frit 3195 at 4. Test A contains 5 parts Frit 3195 and 1 part Silica. This blend did fuse and had both a blue coloration showing in the mix and many ne bubbles in it.

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 Test B is a blend of 4 parts Frit 3195 and 2 parts Silica with a nice white almost satin appearance. There are a bunch of bubbles in the melt. And it just appears that the blend is on the verge of melting completely. This blend, Test C, of 3 parts Frit 3195 and 3 parts Silica, but there is denitely incomplete melting and a surface which wrinkles. Would this incomplete melting and wrinkling still occur with Iron Oxide in the mix or some other metal oxide? Test D, of 2 parts Frit 3195 and 4 parts Silica has not melted much at all. The frit melted, but did not provide enough melted volume to make the silica soluble. Test E, 1 part Frit 3195 and 5 parts Silica is just a button of Silica bound in a frit matrix. Its fused solid enough to be removed as a single button, but not melted completely. Other Questions. Just simply not enough solvent (melt) for nearly all these tests.

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Gerstley Borate and Frit 3124 with Alberta Slip.

Listed asTest Letter,(Gerstley Borate, Frit 3124, Alberta Slip)

A,(5,1,3)

B,(4,2,3)

C,(3,3,3)

D,(2,4,3)

E,(1,5,3)

Comments and Notes. Test A with a blend of 5 parts Gerstley Borate, 1 part Frit 3124, and 3 parts Alberta Slip shows to be a nice dark greenish clear. In Test B, 4 parts Gerstley Borate, 2 parts Frit 3124, and 3 parts Alberta Slip, a hint of milkiness comes in. Also, the crazing appears reduced. Test C, equal parts by volume of Gerstley Borate, Frit 3124, and Alberta Slip shows light crazing and more milkiness. Test D shows no crazing and a heavier milkiness with a more pronounced blueing, from a blend of 2 parts Gerstley Borate, 4 parts Frit 3124, and 3 parts Alberta Slip. 12

 For Test E, the blend is 1 part Gerstley Borate and 5 parts Frit 3124, but the appearance is as if there were little Alberta slip in it. I supposed this might be true due to incomplete mixing in the plastic cup, but looking closer, I think it has more to do with the fact that in the ceramic test cup, there is only a thin layer of glaze at all, with no appearance of crazing. This leads me to think that the mix was correct, just thin. Other Questions. While these are all very similar in appearance, the practicality of use for these glazes is dependent on the tuning of the glaze to have proper t to the clay body. Though the more Frit 3124, the better in appearance is the t, i.e. no crazing.

Examples of Phase Diagrams for Ideas

Here I mention again the awesome resource which I found on the web for nding eutectics usable in general ceramics work. The website and database is: www.sgte.org/fact/documentation. Some examples I have found include:

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This one is most applicable to a line blend of Whiting and Red Iron Oxide. Whiting decomposes at 848 C from Calcium Carbonate to Calcium Oxide (CaO) in the diagram and Red Iron Oxide is simply Fe2 O3 ; so for ring above Orton cone 012, this phase diagram is applicable. Looking at the diagram, we can see that there is a liquid state for this mix at a mole ratio Fe2 O of CaO+Fe3 O3 .58 at a temperature of 1225 C. Since this temperature is 2 a little high with regards to the temperature we are trying to re to, it might be of use to try a line blend for this ratio with some uxing agent, or solvent like Frit 3194. If I try this I will convert the mole ratio for the CaO to an equivalent weight of Whiting, nd the correct weight for the Iron Oxide, blend these two, then make a line blend of this mix with the frit, or Gerstley Borate for example. Another example is the Aluminum Oxide-Manganese Oxide-Silica eutectic. My understanding is that the shaded grey areas in the triaxial blend shown are the liquid phases for this blend. So we can see a range of areas where we might have a successful glaze at 4.

Note that below is the phase diagram for the eutectic for Calcium Oxide, Silica, and Aluminum Oxide listed in section 2, but only at a temperature of 1200 C. It is a reasonable guess that xing a point on this diagram for mole ratios, then adding additional ingredients would likely have the eect

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of intensifying the melting of the mix, as shown above with the addition of Yellow Ochre (hydrated Iron Oxide) to the eutectic base glaze.

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