Online Glaze Recipe Database Project is Now Under Way

[George Lewter]

Tony Hansen, owner of the Digitalfire Corporation contacted me after my  announcement went out that we were about to develop an online glaze database. He is on the verge of releasing a much more robust online glaze database than anything we were contemplating. We have been in discussions and are starting to work out details of how the interested members of the cone6pots network can participate in testing and using Insight Live for cataloging, finding, testing, and documenting glaze recipes. Insight Live will allow us to post recipes singly or in batches from the existing glaze software such as Matrix, Glazemaster, Hyperglaze, Glazechem, or Insight, as well as singly from emails or entered manually. We should be able to add pictures and notes to existing recipes, showing how our results differ from previous ones with different firing, clay bodies, batches of raw materials, etc. -- Thus a glaze record could display a variety of results rather than one or two.

There will be no charge initially, but after the testing phase ends, we will need to purchase a site license. Based on initial talks, the license should not necessitate an annual fee for our members greater than the $5-10 that we have already mentioned in the glaze database discussion forum. One of the really interesting possibilities for us as a group, is setting up project glazes where we collaborate in a very organized way to develop new glazes or improve existing ones.

We have a golden opportunity to get in on the ground floor of what is likely to be the most useful and valuable glaze database on earth. I urge each and every one of you who mix your own glazes to become part of this massive undertaking which will open up to colleges, universities, businesses, and ceramic artists world-wide. 

Tony is finishing up a couple introductory videos and we can expect to see his Web application come up on a restricted basis for us very soon.

I ran a survey to asses interest in this and related educational opportunities. It was answered by 209 members and provides much information for us as we ponder the way forward for the cone6pots network. View the survey results

Thank you,

George Lewter

[Sharon Canfield]

We, too, would be happy to pay a fee for membership.  We did not join this site because it was free.  We joined because of what it offered and have not been disappointed. 

[Kabe Burleson]

I think that five to ten a year would be cheap for the information. I do tile work and am trying to let"s say build my own "crayon box" for mural glazing. To be able to go to a data base  "The big crayon box" to get  a huge choice in colors, would be great. Thank you for the effort you are putting forth toward this project. Kabe

[June Perry]

George, the results sheet I use for assessing tests has some of the following information:

Basic recipe #. Name, type, cone, atmosphere, recipe, color additions and being specific about ingredients, not just say ball clay, or kaolin etc, water used can also be important since mineral content of water from place to place can affect the end result. I always used whatever water was coming from my tap which at times was well water or city water. Late friends Otto and Viveka Heino always used distilled water for their glazes. The old adage that glazes don't travel well can be due to water or what ball clay or kaolin used, clay body choice, or other specific choices made in ingredients like talc, spodumene, firing schedule, weather that day in the case of reduction firings. Even things like what mesh screen was used to mix the glazes can affect the outcome somewhat. Also, the specific gravity of the glaze or a hydrometer reading,what mesh silica was used, kiln placement,etc. as well as information on how long the dip was on the pot, since some glazes exhibit different colors when applied thinly or thickly. All these things affect the outcome. Since most of my years in clay entailed reduction firing, I also have a spot on the sheet to enter a kiln log number and the kiln log had the date, weather conditions of the day, as well as a graph on the firing.

Since there are hundreds of free cone 6 and other temperature glaze recipes available, to make something financially viable and appealing to the  prospective paid subscriber of a database site, I would think that all the information supplied along with the picture would have to be extensive enough to give the user the highest chance of success. Just my thoughts on this.

June