#pb103

Spikey Grey Bowl

Another test of how well the grey glazes go. This had 3 glazes on it. Silver grey all over the outside, Midnight grey on the inside and Storm grey layered over the SIlver around the spikes at the top.

They were all brushed on, and it seems that Silver has to go on much thicker than I put it on, but it still came out satin. The Midnight grey on the inside though is lovely. Dark and glossy, but distinctly grey and not black.

Mountain Cups

This is another go at the August project for Hobby Potter Life - water etching.

The etching

I used shellac (technically a shellac based french polish) as a resist medium. I painted it on in a jagged pattern to where I wanted it to be highest when I was finished - so the rim for one and the base for the other. I also painted it onto the base and inside of both before I started.

Then I used a damp - wet even - sponge to sponge away the exposed clay from the edge of my resist. Once the etching was deep enough, I painted it again, going over what I had just etched, to create a new jagged line further down. Repeat sponging, painting resist and sponging again, until I had 4 levels.

Firing

I bisque fired it next, and all the shellac burned away. I Made sure to wash it well before glazing.

The glaze

I used the test glazes from my previous post. I started with the green, and added a bit of blue for each level, to get 4 different shades. I painted them on carefully, but probably not thick enough. (I plan to make some proper brushing glazes using CMC gum very soon.)

The Clay

I thought I was using PB103, but it must have been reclaimed with a tiny bit of BRT in it, because it came out with some speckle.

Clear glaze, coloured

I took some of the clear glaze we already have mixed up and added some copper carbonate and cobalt carbonate to it, to see if I could get some nice transparent glazes. Fired at cone 9/1280C/stoneware.

Angela’s clear Nepheline Syenite     30 Silica.                         31 Gerstly Borate.           21 Talc                            10 China Clay.                10 Whiting                       8

Three types of clay tested PB103 Reclaim mix of PB103 and BRT BRT

I measured out 100g of glaze for each test (so approx 50g of glaze recipe), and added from left to right 0.25g, 0.5g, 1g, 2g, 4g

I’m thinking the best amounts are the 2g of copper (so +4 in 100) and 0.25g of the cobalt (so +0.5 in 100)

Guest Bowls

Here we have 2 bowls made by other members of my club that show very interesting glaze interaction.

Bowl by Ian

Ian tried layering Apple Jade Green over Moss Green. It’s given some very interesting colours and effects, but as you can see it’s run like nothing else. Good thing he put it on a biscuit

Bowl by Gayle

Tin-chrome Pink Stoneware Glaze

I actually made this glaze ages ago, but I messed it up at the time. We were really short on tin oxide, but I thought I had got lucky and found some in the cupboard and only realised afterwards that I’d used zinc oxide instead of tin. Zinc and tin have very different effects in a glaze.

In the last photo you can see how it looked when I first made it - clear and slightly green from the chrome. I don’t think a single person ever used it for anything, which is unsurprising because it’s blah.

But, from doing the tests with tin-chrome for earthenware and reading the book that recipe came from about colour in glazes, I learnt how chrome and tin react.

By adding the tin I was supposed to add originally, I was about to completely transform a blah glaze into an awesome one.

I’m glad I tested on a small bowl too, because it looks even better on the bowl than on the test ring. The bowl is my reclaimed mix of PB103 and BRT.

They were fired to 1280°C which is approximately cone 9. I did a post about the firing profile we use for stoneware.

The Recipe

45   Potash Feldspar 20   Silica 20   Whiting 10   Kaolin 5     Zinc Oxide 5     Tin Oxide 0.5  +Chrome Oxide

Metallic Edge Bowls

I was inspired by the techniques of Lucie Rie and so tried using my very runny metallic glazes just on the edge of some bowl.

The other glazes are the white ones I made, but with some colourants added. Basically, I was doing some colourant tests, then poured all my coloured glaze back in to the original buckets. These glazes were the result. Once I get all the test tiles from those glaze tests back from firing, I’ll do another post and explain just what went into these glazes.

In the photo of 4, from left to right it is:

Porcelain glaze with gold metallic

Porcelain glaze with pewter metallic

Zirconium glaze with gold metallic

Zirconium glaze with pewter metallic

I find it interesting that the metallic glazes changed completely over the zirconium, and that the porcelain glaze breaks bright orange where it’s thin.

Stardust Bowls

When I made this little cup previously, I was super pleased with the way the glaze turned out, and it was well liked by my friends too. So I decided I should make a series with the same glaze style.

The bowls

I made a series of 12 similar-but-different bowls. Bigger than my original cup so they would be more useful. I don’t know how useful they actually are but they are all around 8-9cm diameter and 6-7cm high. They are all made from my reclaimed mix, which is mostly PB103 (a white stoneware) and BRT (which is brown and contains trachyte).

The glaze

The bowls were first dipped in stardust, then the top edges were dipped in buttermilk. I deliberately made them uneven to make them all a bit different. Where I was holding them when I dipped them was a bit messed up, and I touched that up with a brush. I wasn’t expecting that those bits would be the most interesting in the final glaze.

I only realised after I had them back from firing that in my original cup, I did the inside in buttermilk, not stardust. Oh well.

The art show

There is an Easter Art Show on, that my pottery club is involved with. I decided to enter a few pieces, one of which is the single bowl I’ve posted here. No idea what it’s going up against, or if I have a chance of winning, but I thought it would be fun to try. I suspect that sculpture would do better than practical items.

The shop