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The Newsletter for Raku Artists and Raku Art Lovers In This Issue ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ According to the results of the last month's poll many of you would be interested in buying some premixed Raku glazes. I will work on creating a price list for some of my favorites and let you know when they are available. Thanks for your feedback. If you are a subscriber to PMI (Pottery Making Illustrated), which I
reviewed last month, be on the lookout for an article that will include my
website. The article is supposed to be about on-line resources for potters
so I'm quite pleased to be included in this magazine. Gary R. Ferguson ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ * From the Studio * This was a busy month. I participated in an Art show the beginning of the month. It was not the most successfully show I've done, but I had an opportunity to meet and talk with several other potters and made some potentially beneficial contacts. I guess it goes to show that even a "bad" show can turn out good. I researched and tested several glazes in preparation of completing the commission pieces that I have been working on the last several weeks. I got some good results, some bad results, and some results that I need to do some more testing. One of the "good" results is the Glaze of the Month below. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ * Article * Glaze Testing (Part I) Mixing In testing glazes, there are two basic types of glaze testing that one can focus: color results and surface texture results. Surface texture deals with whether the glaze is matte or glossy, stable or runny, textured or smooth, crazes or fits the clay body, etc. I generally do not modify and test glazes in an attempt to affect texture. I am generally more interested in taking a glaze that already has the texture I want and modifying the color results. One element that can affect color results is the percentage of colorant that is added to the base ingredients of a glaze. For example 3% of copper carbonate (colorant) added to a base glaze may produce turquoise, 6% may produce a dark green, and 15% by produce almost black. Modifying a glaze by adjusting the colorant percentage is relatively easy. You could mix several 100 gram batches and add a different percentage of colorant to each batch and then glaze a piece or a section of a piece with each test batch. This method is effective but not very efficient. You end up with several 100-gram batches of glaze that you only use a few test grams and then potentially throw it away. A method I used recently is the glaze, add, and repeat method (much like the lather, rinse, and repeat on a shampoo bottle). Using this method you mix a 100-gram batch of the base glaze and then measure out several small amounts of colorant - such as four 2-gram quantities of copper carbonate. These can rest on just a small sheet of paper until needed. Then you add water to the base glaze, glaze a test piece or a portion of a test piece, and then add one of the quantities of colorant. Using the above example, this creates a batch with about 2% copper carbonate (actually slightly more because some of the 100 gram batch was already used on the piece). This new batch is then applied to another test piece or section of a test piece. A second quantity (2 more grams) of copper carbonate is added to the batch. This results in a batch with approximately 4% copper carbonate (again slight more than 4% because more of the batch has been used). This process is repeated until each of the quantities of colorant have been added, and a test piece or section of a test piece has been glazed. This method will not provide you an exact result for a recipe, but it should give you a good idea of what combinations or ranges should be focused on for a larger test batch. For example, if in the case above the 4% batch produces a pretty nice glaze, you may want to mix up 2 new 100-gram test batches - one with 3% colorant and the other with 5% colorant. This second test method will produce much more accurate results than the first method, but the first test method quickly narrows down what percentage range of colorant should be investigated using the second method of testing. This method works well when adding stains to a glaze as well. The effect of a stain in glaze can vary greatly (1% to 40%) from stain to stain, and base glaze to base glaze. You would not want to waste expensive stains in a dozen 100 gram batches when one 100-gram batch with repeatedly adding additional stain and glazing can quickly and economically test stain percentage ranges. Next Issue I will cover how to efficiently glaze and fire the test batches. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ * Tips and Techniques * Glaze Testing Containers Plastic pint freezer containers make great containers for small test batches of glaze. They are relative inexpensive, durable, reuseable, and almost airtight. A pint container will hold about a 100 to 200 gram batch of glaze and the needed quantity of water. The dry ingredients and water can be added to the container and with the lid replaced and carefully sealed the contents can be quickly mixed by just shaking the container for a few seconds. The lidded container can be used to store a mixed batch of glaze over a good period of time. ~~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- * Q & A * Q: In this most recent newsletter, you mentioned underglazes. Would you
be kind enough to tell me if the reduction process complete with garbage
can and A: Typically the reduction process, especially if used under a clear glaze does not affect underglazes. They are probably more affect by the influence of the ingredients of the covering glaze ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ * Glazing * Turquoise 100 - Frit 3110 This is a very simple basic glaze that can produce a wonderful turquoise crackle. The glaze should be applied fairly thick. It will be yellowish where thin. The maturity temperature is around 1800F. The piece should be very lightly reduced to obtain the turquoise color. I remove the piece from the kiln and then hold it in the air for 20 to 30 seconds before I place it in the reduction chamber. If the piece is quickly or heavily reduced, more copper and darker greens will result. The glaze generally produces a crackle pattern and an orange peel (or micro bubbly) texture where really thick. If no copper carbonate is added, the glaze is a nice white crackle. If 6%+ of copper carbonate is used, the turquoise color becomes a forest green. It's almost like getting three glazes for the price of only one recipe. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ * Bookworm * Magazine: Clay Times Last month I covered the clay magazine Potter Making Illustrated (http://tinyurl.com/hvno). Another magazine I subscribe to is Clay Times: The Journal of Ceramic Trends and Techniques. This is another magazine that focuses more on the "how to" of clay. There is always something of interest in each issue. Whether it's a business article of how to sell more art, new glaze recipes, new firing techniques, new construction techniques, or an inspiring picture in the reader submitted gallery section. A sample of recent articles include: Throwing Large Forms, Build Your Own Spray Booth, Increasing Your Claywork Sales, Naked Raku-Flemish Style, and a Val Cushing Workshop. The publication is produced six times a year and can be subscribed to a: http://tinyurl.com/hvnd ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ * Reader Feedback * The following are some excerpts of the feedback last month. * * * [Thanks for describing the technique you used] * * * [Ok readers, if you know of any Raku workshops, let me know and I'll include them in the newsletter. Remember the newsletter only comes out at the beginning of each month] * * * [Feedback like this will definitely keep to the newsletter going - Thanks John and hang in there!] * * * [Anyone else having problems. I create the newsletter in Word and cut and paste it into a plain text document in Outlook. I'm not using any hard returns that I know of, other than at the end of paragraphs.] ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ * Calendar * My full calendar can be seen at: http://www.garyrferguson.com/events.htm Nov 1-2 Eagle Holiday Bazaar Nov 5-12 Beaux Arts Society Holiday Sale ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ The Ceramics Today Update - Newsletter BigCeramicStore - Glaze Testing Article Digital Fire - Glaze Temperature Adjustments Claymaker - Glaze Defects Just Raku Newsletter ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ This newsletter is send to opt-in members only. If this issue was forwarded to you and you would like your own copy each month send an email to subscribe@garyrferguson.com with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line. If you wish to no longer receive this newsletter send a email to unsubscribe@garyrferguson.com with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. Disclaimer: Just Raku, the owner(s) and representative(s) of this
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