Cone 6 Glaze Recipes

Glaze Recipe Etiquette

Many recipes are already posted on this network, and you can search for them yourself by typing in the name in the SEARCH box at the upper right hand corner of all of our pages.  A thousand or more are listed on the Sankey glaze database which is also posted on this network.  With the Sankey database, which is an enormous web page, you need to go to the edit menu of your browser and select "Find", then type in the glaze name you are searching for. Look down the page with the "Find Next" button until you've checked all the possibles. The next step would be to do a Google search of the Internet for the recipe you're looking for. If you find the recipe, it would be generous and helpful to post it on our network yourself, giving credit to the source where you found it. 

If these three techniques don't turn up the recipe you seek, THEN it is a reasonable thing to request one of our members to either post the recipe on the network or to email it to you. Asking for recipes without due diligence on your part is like asking someone else to do your job for you. It will not enhance your reputation.

Cone 6 Glaze Recipes

As a starting point, here is a list of online sources of cone 6 glaze recipes.
Group 1 - Having both photographs and commentary on the glazes.

  •  John Post generously shares his glaze research, and coats his simple forms with spectacular glazes. He has extensive information on a technique of glaze testing.
  • Alisa Clausen has the most extensive photo-documented cone 6  glaze test collection (on flicker) that I have found. Most of the recipes are for cone 6 glazes. The right column of her page links to groups of glaze tests. Her source of recipes is largely the Sankey Glaze Database which is available right here on our network.
  • John Anthony's Red Hill Pottery has some great shots and notes on his tests of many published recipes.
  • June Perry does extensive glaze testing and shares her results generously on her Website.
  • James Jacobs has a set of ^6 recipes with pictures on his Website. Caution -- all of the photos of finished examples were fired in reduction. He says only the cobalt blues and heavy iron formulas would be useful in oxidation.

Group 2 Recipes not as well documented as Group 1

  • The clayart discussions at potters.org are a prodigous source of ^6 glaze recipes, but you won't find pictures here. Some of the discussions give links to Websites with pictures, but generally you will only find recipes and written descriptions of glaze characteristics. The SDSU ceramicsweb glazebase seems to be offline. The creator of GlazeChem glaze calculation software downloaded the entire glazebase in 2001, and has it available for downloading in GlazeChem format. I've extracted the cone 6 recipes and commentary and converted it to a Word document. Here is a link for you to download the 275 page document - CeramicsWebClayartCone6Glazes.doc
  • Lakeside Pottery has an extensive list of their glaze recipes, but they refer you to their gallery to see the glazes in use without a one-to-one match up of recipe to picture. These appear to be worth exploring as they produce some very nice pieces.
  • Val Cushing had an article in the June 1977 issue of Studio Potter that listed a number of his recipes for glazes and engobes (or slips). Note that a number of the glazes utilize Barium Carbonate which in the intervening years has fallen from grace for its toxicity. It would be prudent not to use these glazes on the interior or mouth contact surfaces of table ware or cookware.

Group 3 Recipes lacking significant documentation.

  • I have a collection of them in a Word document totalling 61 pages. I am posting the document here for you to download and test as you like. If you do test any of them, please report your results in detail here. Good Luck. collectedglazes.doc

Let's see if our members have any interest in sharing glaze recipes. If you want to post a recipe, please follow the following guidelines.

  • Use the conventional 100 unit batch formula and the full descriptive names of all ingredients.
  • Include the source of the recipe
  • Include application methods, best thickness of application, and cautions about defects you've encountered
  • Include any special firing techniques
  • Post a picture of the fired glaze
  • If known, include the coefficient of expansion, and the clay body you've used with the glaze.

Please do not post recipes from copyrighted sources.

Comment

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Comment by George Lewter on June 28, 2012 at 5:34pm

The Vals Turquoise recipe from Alisa Clausen that I posted is not missing anything. It was just not normalized to 100 units for the base recipe plus additives.

I normalized it to 

Custer Spar 35.6

Gerstley Borate 21.8

Silica 27.5

Dolomite 3.7

Whiting 11.4

__________________

Total 100

Additives 

Copper carbonate 2.9

Bentonite 1.0

My test of the recipe yielded results very similar to those in Alisa's photo.

Comment by Donna Ferrara on April 23, 2012 at 4:21am

Red River

Flint           28

EPK            18

Neph Sy      18

Bone Ash     9

Dolomite     9

Gerstley Borate  9

Talc           9

Spanish Red Iron Oxide   20%

the dr brown on the bottle is this glaze fired w/o a hold or slow cooling.  I think when fired properly it should be rust, breaking dr brown.

Comment by EE on April 6, 2012 at 10:45am

Hillman, you posted a pic of one of my antler mugs below, saying you are interested in getting a hares fur glaze finish.  I use commercial glazes on anything meant to be food safe as I have never tested my own glazes for food safety.  If you would like to duplicate the finish on my mugs use Coyote black (2 to 3 coats) as the base, followed by 2 coats Coyote Shino and sometimes I add some leopard shino too.  This combination over a brown speckled clay gives a nice range of color falling into what I call camoflauge color palette. 

Comment by Donna Ferrara on March 22, 2012 at 3:59pm
Comment by Jan Wallace on March 22, 2012 at 3:57pm

Very nice glaze Donna. Looks and behaves a little like the "nutmeg" variation I have been working on recently. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

Comment by Donna Ferrara on March 22, 2012 at 3:31pm

Orange/Brown Glaze

by Bill SChran

Dolomite          17.5%

Gerstley Borate   8.0

Frit 3134            5.0

talc                  3.5

Soda Feldspar    5.0

Spodumene        17.5

EPK Kaolin         1.0

kentucky ball

clay om#4         17.5

Sillica                25.0

add

Bentonite       1.5%

RIO               1.0

yellow ochre   2.5

tin oxide         3.5

I've used this on standard 112, and 308 with great results, its a reddish orange glaze where thin and as it gets thicker it gets creamy. 

Comment by Jan Wallace on March 16, 2012 at 1:58pm

Thanks Donna. Much appreciated you sharing this glaze recipe. I have been mixing up a few 'whites' this week. I will add this to my list and see how it goes for me.

Comment by Donna Ferrara on March 16, 2012 at 5:42am
Thumbnail
here is  the matte white base recipe i posted on my page. this picture has the addition of 4% rutile , which results in a semi matte glaze.  the clay body is standard 112. Again, has only been tested in my dishwasher in everyday use

from Andy Quient (not sure if he developed this or not)

matte white

Cornwall stone        21%

Ferro 3134              22%

Dolomite                21%

Om4 Ball Clay         15%

Flint                       20%

_______________________

                            99%

bentonite                  2%

this is a flat matte white glaze, smooth surface,my experience has been firing it from cone 5-6 1/2 with good results

for colors add

.50% periwinkle blue

4% rutile for a semi matte white, that breaks over dark clay nicely

4% CuCO3 for a copper matte

3% RIO, 1.75% CuCO3, .375% magansese dioxide, .50% rutile for a mustardly brown green

Comment by Donna Ferrara on March 13, 2012 at 5:23am

thanks for changing the typeface!

Comment by Barbara Hanselman on March 10, 2012 at 7:15am

John Wright's site is no longer available.

 

Comment by June Perry on March 9, 2012 at 2:55pm

Thanks Lorn. Nice to have that wide firing range.

June

Comment by June Perry on March 9, 2012 at 2:48pm

What cone was the test fired? Thanks for the updated recipe, I just wanted to make sure that something wasn't omitted.

June

Comment by June Perry on March 9, 2012 at 2:39pm

This doesn't add up to 100%. Is the recipe you posted correct? It's a fascinating glaze. What cone was that test fired to?

June

Comment by Brenda Phillips on March 5, 2012 at 6:27pm

I like Jen's Juicy Fruit, but I have trouble with small craters over the glaze.  Am I putting on too thick?  Not holding the temp long enough for it to smooth out? 

Has anyone had this problem and cured the problem? 

Thanks

Brenda Phillips

Manchester, CA

Comment by June Perry on August 2, 2011 at 4:14am

Here are some you can try:

Slips for ^6   by Don Reitz in GA  used in Callanwolde art center in Atlanta

kaolin                   600    300
g 200 feldspar    150      75
flint                       150      75
ball clay               100      50

total                   1000     500

for:                     add:
dark brown         10-20% red iron oxide
tan                     2-3%  red iron ox
honey                 10% rutile
grey blue             1-2% cobalt carb
Blue blue            2-4% cobalt carb
green                 3% chrome oxide
copper green       5% copper carbinate
green charcoal     3-5%copper oxide
yellow                 8-10% vanadium stain


Nice reliable Engobe

ball clay       250      125
kaolin epk   350      175
neph sy       225       113
flint               225      113
talc                75         38
soda ash       25        13

total           1150     677

for the large batch use 2 1/2 cups water


For a nice terra cotta tan use 1/3 each
iron, manganese and rutile

my notes:
for small batch above add:
black      30gm mason stain
rose       120 gm mason stain
yellow     60  gm  mason stain
tourquoise 90 gm mason stain
[I don't know the numbers...whatever I had in my cabinet and was using]

you can try:
tourquoise:
1% copper carb
1-2% red iron
1/2-1% chrome oxide

black
1-2% copper carb
3-5% red iron oxide
2-3% manganese dioxide

specks:
2-3% illmenite or granular manganese

 

Engobe C 5-7 Wet or Leather Don Davis

30 EPK
10 Ball Clay
15 #6 TIle Clay
15 Nepheline Syenite
10 Talc
20 Silica

Alone it's good for white

 

June

http://www.shambhalapottery.com

http://www.shambhalapottery.blogspot.com

Comment by Carl Ray Crutchfield on August 1, 2011 at 6:40pm
I am in need of a cone 6 engobe recipe to use on B-Mix 5 clay in the bisque stage.  The simpler the better.  If suggested percentage of colorants are available, I could use that info as well.  I will be using oxides and carbonates not Mason stains.  If this should have been posted elsewhere, please redirect me.  Thanks for any help.  -carl
Comment by June Perry on July 5, 2011 at 4:39am

There are two types of matt glazes, those that are matt because they are under fired, and those that are matt due to the right proportion of of silica and alumina and fired to maturity. An under fired matt glaze will exhibit some of the problems listed; but there are matt glazes that can be safe and functionally stable.

Even gloss glazes can be unstable and leach if there isn't enough silica in the glaze to absorb a large amount of a potentially unsafe oxide, like copper carb, for instance.

Comment by Morty Bachar on July 2, 2011 at 7:20pm

Can matt glazes be used for food ware? We have received several questions regarding the use of matt glazes for functional ware and have found that the answer is not that straight forward. The following is our recommendation:

What is Matt Glaze?

One or all of the symptoms below may occur with matt glazes. What is acceptable to you is an individual decision. Testing to discover which of the three will be presented in your matt glaze is advisable.

1) Food Staining (e.g., coffee, tomato sauce or other acidic foods)

2) Food particles might not wash off thoroughly because of the porous/ unsmooth surface and can result in bacteria growth

3) Matt glazes may be more likely to leach hazardous glaze materials into the food while a glossy surface acts as a tight seal

Testing items 1 and 2 above is not difficult and will determine

 

For more details: http://lakesidepottery.com/HTML%20Text/Tips/Are-matt-glazes-food-sa...

 

For more tips:http://lakesidepottery.com/Pages/Tips.html

Comment by Barbara Hanselman on June 21, 2011 at 10:22am
Go buy the book, MASTERING CONE 6 GLAZES by Ron Roy and John Hesselberth.  In it you will find that glazes are classified as 'stable and durable' not as 'food safe'.  Since we no longer use lead in our recipes, glazes are food safe; they just may not be stable and/or durable. John also has a program called GLAZE MASTER which you can purchase.  When you put the ingredients from your glazes into his program you will get a lot of information about the glaze and can tell whether the glaze will be stable and durable.  Of course firing also plays a big part in all of this - read the book!
Comment by Barbara Hanselman on June 4, 2011 at 12:13pm

Juicy Turquoise ^6 by Linda Pahl

41.0%   Cornwall stone 

5.0%     EPK

5.0%     Lithium Carbonate

12.5%   Strontium carbonate

10.0%   Whiting

16.5%   Silica

ADD:

2.5%     Copper Oxide

4.5%     Tin Oxide

2.0%     Bentonite

A glossy surface when fired in oxidation which breaks nicely on textures especially in high iron clay bodies.

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