My last glaze trial series of another 64 tests back in March was predominantly aimed at the brown end of the spectrum. I'm always looking at the same time for a useful lighter cream/beige tone and one of the test tiles looked just about right.
Here it is on Pot 58 a nice little ribbed oval about 346 x 264 x 67. I think it's one of the nicest little ovals I've made, perfect for an evergreen tree, if not a trident to offset some autumn colour.
Thes two shots of front and back show how slight changes in the glaze depth brings out the darker break in tone. This shows why it's important when testing glazes to apply the glaze in a number of overlapping layers, but always test just a single coating, it will usually be a darker tone, but that depends a little on the clay body you are using too. Because I brush apply I also brush apply to the test tiles. After a while you get to calibrate your application technique to know how many coats and how much to apply.
And this is one photo from the end.
In the close up you get a much better idea of texture and colour breaking.
The glaze is an unfritted Custer Potash base formulated for a satin finish and the colourant is 2% Nickel. Straight Nickel with opacifiers can be a little bland. I've used 6% Rutile in this one too and while it is supposed to offer opacity with speckle my experience has been that it has more impact in imparting a little cream tonality. The thing that brings this one to life is 2.5% Zinc Oxide. You don't need a lot of Zinc to make a big difference in a glaze colour and for many base glazes it is a useful additive to test, more as a colour enhancer than opacifier.
Here it is on Pot 58 a nice little ribbed oval about 346 x 264 x 67. I think it's one of the nicest little ovals I've made, perfect for an evergreen tree, if not a trident to offset some autumn colour.
Thes two shots of front and back show how slight changes in the glaze depth brings out the darker break in tone. This shows why it's important when testing glazes to apply the glaze in a number of overlapping layers, but always test just a single coating, it will usually be a darker tone, but that depends a little on the clay body you are using too. Because I brush apply I also brush apply to the test tiles. After a while you get to calibrate your application technique to know how many coats and how much to apply.
And this is one photo from the end.
In the close up you get a much better idea of texture and colour breaking.
The glaze is an unfritted Custer Potash base formulated for a satin finish and the colourant is 2% Nickel. Straight Nickel with opacifiers can be a little bland. I've used 6% Rutile in this one too and while it is supposed to offer opacity with speckle my experience has been that it has more impact in imparting a little cream tonality. The thing that brings this one to life is 2.5% Zinc Oxide. You don't need a lot of Zinc to make a big difference in a glaze colour and for many base glazes it is a useful additive to test, more as a colour enhancer than opacifier.
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