Has anyone tried these? I saw a brochure at my local pottery studio and there were some gorgeous examples. http://www.amaco.com/learn-about-potters-choice-glazes/

I don't work for amaco, btw. Just wondering if anyone has tried them yet.

I just got a new kiln with a controller, so I'm working on MC6G right now, but I may get a few of these and try some mixing and matching.

Leigh

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I use Amaco Potters Choice and the key to success seems to be to apply heavily.

I love potter's choice glazes!  I usually use more than one at a time. Try layering seaweed over firebrick. Beautiful!

I've tried 4 different colors and have had mostly good results with layering. These glazes have a high gum content and are best brushed on and applied heavily. They aren't cheap and the heavy application leads to a high use rate.

Leslie

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I have used them extensively before I began mixing my own glazes.  The layered effects they talk about with the cone 6 glazes can be nice  However, the results vary widely.  I have found Deep Firebrick to be a very nice base.  However, it was frustrating to try their layering and get disappointing results.  I believe I tried about 75% of the potters choice line and many many of the layering they suggest.

Lustrous Jade, Temmoku and Ancient Jasper gave good results when you got the thickness right.  The Blue Midnight was difficult to get blue, the oil spot was awful by itself, the iron luster ok, shino did not give me good results. Tourmaline did not give me the results from layering the website suggested.  All in all expensive to use and experiment with.

We liked deep firebrick so well we started layering other commercial glazes over it and I've been looking for a recipe for something that would duplicate it.

I appreciated the comments about firebrick because I think just the opposite about the glaze and was wondering if I use it incorrectly. Everytime I use Firebrick as the base it still overwhelms the rest of the glazes so I get very little variation and a very dark pot. I have tried brushing and spraying and I apply fairly heavy. Can you share your application tips?

As for Potters Choice, I used it for a while but switched to Mayco and like it better. I am not really sure why but I like brighter colors and I have some pretty ones in Mayco. 

Recently I tried Ancient Jasper. When applied heavily enough it produces a gorgeous high glossy finish with black, red, grey and even purplish variations.  The downside is that under various firing routines at cone 5 to 6, it spits tiny dots of glaze for several inches around any piece that I put it on. Thankfully, I only bought a pint to try.

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Firebrick Red is too red to be iron oxide. It's a simple glaze colored with a Stain, like those made by Mason, Cerdec-Degussa, etc.

This is in contrast to "Ancient Jasper" which is a high Red Iron Oxide glaze made with synthetic iron oxide. The recipe is Floating Red "Oxblood Red" in Digitalfire, at the bottom of the page.  http://www.digitalfire.com/gerstleyborate/recipes/floatingblue.html

Brent Farler said:

I have used them extensively before I began mixing my own glazes.  The layered effects they talk about with the cone 6 glazes can be nice  However, the results vary widely.  I have found Deep Firebrick to be a very nice base.  However, it was frustrating to try their layering and get disappointing results.  I believe I tried about 75% of the potters choice line and many many of the layering they suggest.

Lustrous Jade, Temmoku and Ancient Jasper gave good results when you got the thickness right.  The Blue Midnight was difficult to get blue, the oil spot was awful by itself, the iron luster ok, shino did not give me good results. Tourmaline did not give me the results from layering the website suggested.  All in all expensive to use and experiment with.

We liked deep firebrick so well we started layering other commercial glazes over it and I've been looking for a recipe for something that would duplicate it.

We use 2 coats of Firebrick Red applied first.  Then 2-3 coats of the layered glaze goes on top of the firebrick.  You have to read their website and some of the jars to find out which colors need to be applied thick and which ones should go on thin.  Variation helps achieve some of the layering effects. Some of the colors 'float' and require sufficient thickness to properly float.  

We have had good success layering some of the Coyote and Spectrum glazes on top of firebrick red.

It is also possible that your clay body may be reacting with the firebrick red.I have not experienced any issues using both red and white stoneware cone 6 mix (we use Trinity's mix) and have also used some laguna cone 6 clays with no problem.  I am going to be using some really dark, high iron clays in the future and expect that they may require some different approaches.

Dani Montoya said:

I appreciated the comments about firebrick because I think just the opposite about the glaze and was wondering if I use it incorrectly. Everytime I use Firebrick as the base it still overwhelms the rest of the glazes so I get very little variation and a very dark pot. I have tried brushing and spraying and I apply fairly heavy. Can you share your application tips?

Stephen Creech is a potter who does work at AMACO. He could certainly chime in here, and show us examples of his own work on his profile page.

Thanks for the update Brent. I don't think my clay is reacting, I think I just don't like the color!!! Have someone who works at Amaco would be cool to chime in would be cool!!  I like that Amaco has a decent website and shows some combos. I wish they had those sheets on alll their colors. I have tried to replicate what they have done without the same results which was frustrating.  At that time I was brushing my glazes. I have since started spraying so  maybe I should try again.

I recently tested Potter's Choice Indigo Float over Firebrick on a Standard 112 clay.  The results were similar to the same glazing I did on B-Mix 5.  Beautiful contrast of colors....2 coats of Firebrick and drizzled indigo float.  Took a (bad) photo and posted to my page here.  I've learned to "love" the fan brush! 

Thank you Mary Kay, for the suggestion to layer Seaweed....I'll try that.

I just came across this discussion. What did Mary Kay suggest layering with Seaweed? The only combo I have liked so far is Seaweed with 1 layer Mayco White Opal over it. Beautiful flowing colors.

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