Glaze Calculation Software - Pro's / Con's - Which Program

[Andrea Wolf]

Hi All,

I'm about to start using glaze calculation software and am at a loss for which one to select. I dont really want to pay for more than one but I am kinda stuck as to which one to pick... insight...glazemaster....etc

I was wondering if anyone had done a similar search exercise and weighed the possibilities and what they concluded was best.

Thanks,

Andrea

[Norm Stuart]

I use Insight because it's included in my DigitalFire membership.  But programs which calculate atomic weights are all pretty much the same.  They're convenient because they have the make-up of each ingredient already input.

But when I'm adjusting a glaze recipe to use different ingredients I often use an Excel spreadsheet I made with a row for each ingredient and the elements across the columns.  I can visually scan the ingredients more easily to solve the problem more quickly. None of the glaze software I'm aware of can goal seek this way - readjusting the glaze recipe after replacing one of the ingredient.

[Andrea Wolf]

I used to "play" with glaze stuff.... basically just take a known recipe and tweak here and there and I'm now in a place where I want to get serious. My chemistry knowledge needs sharpening but I accept that. My main aim is to not have to restart with another program when I find a shortcoming of some sort. Thanks for your comment. It's super helpful. I haven't gotten as far as you with your spreadsheet and what not and hope to get there someday. Basically across the top you have element names and each ingredient down the side... so Red Iron Oxide on the column and across you have the FE2O3? Is that the right visual?

Andrea

Norm Stuart said:

I use Insight because it's included in my DigitalFire membership.  But programs which calculate atomic weights are all pretty much the same.  They're convenient because they have the make-up of each ingredient already input.

But when I'm adjusting a glaze recipe to use different ingredients I often use an Excel spreadsheet I made with a row for each ingredient and the elements across the columns.  I can visually scan the ingredients more easily to solve the problem more quickly. None of the glaze software I'm aware of can goal seek this way - readjusting the glaze recipe after replacing one of the ingredient.

[Norm Stuart]

Let me first explain that I've used spreadsheets for business for decades, so Excel is second nature to me.  If you know how they work, hopefully my explanation will be easy to follow. People who've never used a spreadsheet, well, you'll understand at a glance why you use glaze calculation software instead.

In the first screen-shot each row is a raw material with its Digitalfire makeup I've entered, along with miscellaneous notes I've made to myself.  Click on the screen-shot to expand the JPG to full resolution.

In the second screen-shot, lower in the spreadsheet, I've created a row for each raw material I'm using where I use column F as the percentage of that material added.  As an example just under the blue border you see row 125 is for Bone Ash, so cell i25 is =$F125*i10  where row 10 holds the original Bone Ash raw material entry.  After creating this formula for each ingredient, I copy that formula across the columns for those rows, with the Dollar Sign $F of course holding the F column fixed while everything else if copied relative to each cell position.

You can see I have a row under each mix titled Total Original and Total New, and just above the green bar a line titled Difference.

Glaze programs have all of these raw material rows and calculation rows hidden from view, giving you just the final result, which is less messy looking, but I can't see at a glance what is giving me too much sodium etc.

If you look at the tabs along the bottom, you'll notice I have our studio inventory with the cost, kiln log, glaze recipes with photos, cone charts. If you understand spreadsheets you easily understand how I use the cost listing on the Material Cost page to price out each of the glaze recipes.   

Think of a place I can upload this 74 MB file and the spreadsheet is yours. The glaze photos make it large.

Andrea Wolf said:

I used to "play" with glaze stuff.... basically just take a known recipe and tweak here and there and I'm now in a place where I want to get serious. My chemistry knowledge needs sharpening but I accept that. My main aim is to not have to restart with another program when I find a shortcoming of some sort. Thanks for your comment. It's super helpful. I haven't gotten as far as you with your spreadsheet and what not and hope to get there someday. Basically across the top you have element names and each ingredient down the side... so Red Iron Oxide on the column and across you have the FE2O3? Is that the right visual?

Andrea

[Kathy Ransom]

Your spreadsheet is terrific Norm.  I really like Insight and would like to use it to tweak some of my glaze recipes but don't have the thorough knowledge of ingredients that Tony Hansen has.  I've also tried different ways of tracking my inventory and costing it but nothing satisfactory.  If you're ok with sharing I'd love to have a copy of your spreadsheet if there's a way to share the file.  

[Norm Stuart]

Someone needs to tell me where to upload the spreadsheet.  I've heard of websites like Dropbox, but haven't used any.

[Andrea Wolf]

That sheet is amazing, Norm. I would love to have it. 

I have an account on box.com that I can give you access to upload to. What's your email? 

From there, I can put it on a public website that I manage in a hidden place that only people with a link can get to and you can give the link to whomever you like.

How does that sound?

Thanks so much,

Andrea

[Norm Stuart]

My Glaze Spreadsheet is uploaded for all to have.  72.1 MB

https://app.box.com/s/mepviv3k18o6wiu6rgvssqqrurwoxk30

Don't bother waiting for Box to create a preview, as it's not capable of creating a preview of this size file.  Just click the Download button.

[Kathy Ransom]

Opened an account on box as that's where your link took me to Norm but when I search your name or spreadsheet # or GlazeSpreadsheet I don't get any results.

[Andrea Wolf]

Yeah, Its attached to my box account. I made this link for the spreadsheet publicly accessible.

Enjoy, Everyone!

https://app.box.com/s/mepviv3k18o6wiu6rgvssqqrurwoxk30

Andrea

[Norm Stuart]

If you want to use the Excel spreadsheet but are not old-school enough to have Microsoft Excel,

Download Open Office for free and use the Calc program for spreadsheets on Apple or Windows. 

http://www.openoffice.org/download/index.html

The only slight disadvantage to Open Office Cal is it seems to create a lot temp files which it sometimes doesn't delete.

[Kathy Ransom]

I've been using open office for a few years as I'd rather spend my money on clay and equipment for clay :) Open Office does everything I need it to and I really like it.  My only wish is that there was a really good open source program that is similar to Photoshop.  I've tried one that is supposed to be similar but I don't find it user friendly at all.   

[Andrea Wolf]

Libre Office also is a great open source Spreadsheeting program. 

As far as an open sourced Photoshop, I have been using Gimp. It has a learning curve to it, BUT i have found it to be every bit as good as photoshop.    http://www.gimp.org/

If you need help doing something specific, let me know and I'll try to point you in the right direction. Just message me.