Sources of Glaze Recipes

[George Lewter]

As a starting point, here is a list of online sources of cone 6 glaze recipes. It has been moved over from its former page, to help organize glaze topics under discussion categories.

 

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. His website is arguably the best cone 6 glaze resource currently online. He has extensive information on a technique of glaze testing.
• Alisa Clausen has the most extensive photo-documented cone 6 dedicated glaze recipe Website 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. Update - Morty Bachar of Lakeside Pottery is now one of our members since fall of 2009.
• 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 it 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
• John Wright has a list of ^6 glazes on his Web page

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.

[Pete Garmin]

Here is my first attempt at posting a glaze recipe. This is a mid-range celadon. I am still searching for a great celadon (blue or green) that comes close to the old cone 10 reduction celadons I used to use. If anyone has any ideas please let me know ([e-mail]). This is a great glaze, but it is a bit too dark blue. I tried to calm it down a bit by mixing it with a clear but the result are not good.

Cone 6 Blue Celadon
Custer Feldspar 20
Gersteley Borate 20
Nepheline syenite 20
Flint 15
Wollastonite 10
Dolomite 2
EPK 5
Red Iron Oxide 2
Titanium Dioxide 1
Cobal Carbonate 0.9
Copper Carbonate 2.5

You can buy this glaze pre-mixed here : http://www.glazemixer.com/singlerecipe.aspx?RecipeID=2372