micro-crystalline glaze for c6

[marlies bontenbal]

Hello everyone,

I am trying to find a recipe for a crystalline glaze with small but well-visable cristals for c.6

Prefeable without barium.

Is there anyone who has a recipe for me?

greetings,

marlies

[Steve Tyler]

i don't know the digitfire format yet, but as percentages and off the top of my head a good reliable crystalline glaze is:

3110 frit  50

silica       23

zinc oxide  23

titanium   1-3  

lithium carbide  1-3

then add colorants -- cobalt, copper, nickle, iron, manganese are all good

You will need something to keep it all in suspension like CMC gum or a little bentonite (sp?)

But the the real trick with crystallines is the firing schedule  up to 2130F then drop to between 2000-1800 , go up and down in there - then fall off slowly to 1400F -- ya kinda gotta find your own way

Oh! then the real fun comes chipping it off it's base -- use a pedestal and glaze catcher, made to fit and hopefully you can get it unstuck with a blow torch if ya used the right glue to hold it together up front -- there's a lot to it and I've trashed a few pieces of furniture as I've learned and figured it all out.  Good luck!

[Steve Tyler]

i gotta get my act together on the computer, arrg

[Steve Tyler]

oh! and one more thing, the pictures are mislabeled, the one is nickle and the other cobalt.. sigh -- i'll figure it out yet  -- the lithium is what brings the recipe down from a a cone 10 to a cone 6

[marlies bontenbal]

Hi Steve,

thanks for your reaction. The pictires look great, a pitty the yellow one broke!

i am going to try your recipe.

greetings,

marlies

[Steve Tyler]

put it on thick too, especially up top, it will run a lot  , and long soaks, i just got to the top temp and drop, but then sit at 2000  a couple hours, and at each spot 1950 an hour maybe, 1975 an hour, 1925 an hour.. 1900 ... that kind of thing --- do a search there are a lot of good sites out there -- the glaze i gave is kinda a basic forgiving one -- good luck

I have better pictures and a half completed website, i have to figure it all out, but i want to do my next firing first!