Fake Ash Lauras Turquoise Based Tests

Tim Carlson August 14, 2011

Conventions in these notes: Here, as in all my notes, the units used are by weight unless specied otherwise (e.g. 1tsp Sodium Silicate). Note that none of the glazes are normalized1 ; these recipes are listed by parts since calculations involving the Natural numbers are much simpler. For all the glazes listed in my notes, we red to cone 10 (10) in reduction using a Bailey Downdraft 10ft3 kiln, though to be honest, the ring is more of a soft 11.2 The schedule which we red is approximately given by: neutral up to a Shino/body reduction, re strong reduction through to 9, tapering the reduction to neutral at 10 with a neutral soak for 20 minutes.

For a more elaborate diatribe on normalizations, please see [3], [2], [1]. I would list peak temperature, but the major factor in maturity of the clay body as well as the glaze is the amount of heat energy which is applied to the materials inside the kiln; here is the main reason for using pyrometric cones. The cones are a simple, reasonably accurate measure of the heat energy which has been supplied to the materials in the kiln.
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Fake Ash - Lauras Turquoise Base

This set of notes came about when Dan Dermer suggested that it would be nice to have a dip-able fake-ash style glaze. Some background: fake-ash style glazes are typically extremely runny and dicult to control, especially when applied fairly thick. Most often, in application, they are sprayed on in order to control the location and runs associated with fake-ash. What characterizes fake-ash glazes isnt just the runny-ness; many glazes are fairly runny but are not fake-ash style. What distinguishes fake-ash from generally runny glazes is the high degree of surface tension apparent in the glaze after ring. In the picture to the right, we see an example of a fake ash glaze and its distinctive runny-ness. Note the rivulet pattern which appears, marking this as a fake-ash. It is supposed that the surface tension of the melt at 10 is the property accountable for the uniformity of the drips forming on vertical surfaces.

Now, the Lauras Turquoise glaze doesnt form the distinctive rivulets associated with a fake-ash glaze3 , but it does have the content close to 40% Whiting (an indicator of a fake-ash) and a strong surface tension giving it a beautiful texture.
Thankfully, since it can then be used regularly as a studio glaze where beginners have access to it.
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In this picture of the Lauras Turquoise glaze, the surface forms an orange-peel texture as it often does. I suspect that this glaze is on the verge of stability; that is, given a little more ux, the glaze would be considered quite runny, possibly even forming rivulets like a true fake-ash glaze.

Lauras Turquoise recipe Whiting 40 Custer 25 EPK 32 Silica 10 Bentonite 2 Copper Carbonate 3.25 Rutile 3 Cobalt Carbonate .25

Examining the recipe for Lauras Turquoise, we see there are 40 parts Whiting, but there is a signicantly large amount of alumina in the glaze due to 32 parts EPK. This high alumina is likely the stiener in the glaze inhibiting the formation of rivulets. Though as noted above, the glaze still has a strong surface tension, forming an orange-peel texture.

Following my conventions in other glaze test notes, I remove the metal oxides (and carbonates and other inorganic colorants) in order to determine the base glaze. I apologize that I do not have a picture example of the base glaze on its own. The reason that the idea of a dip-able fake ash glaze is attractive, is that a dip-able glaze on the verge of runny-ness would hopefully have an appealing orange-peel texture like the Lauras Turquoise glaze, but have a dierent color as well as dierent interactions with other glazes. Lauras Turquoise has such a beautiful texture as well as color, it seems to be a natural choice for a base glaze. Though as Im discovering, retention of the surface texture is quite dicult; possibly since in the original glaze, the copper and the rutile are relatively active uxes. But, this diculty lends itself to questions regarding the use of other alkaline earth elements (i.e. Barium, Strontium, ooohh: Radium! glow in the dark glazes!4 ) as replacements to parts of
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Dont take this seriously as we all should be familiar with the life (and death) of Marie

Whiting in the recipe. This would also suggest coloration modications as well, but if were focusing on surface texture, then color is the secondary priority. Of course, personal tastes in glazes play a large role in determining the quality of the glaze. LT Base Glaze recipe Whiting Custer EPK Silica Bentonite

40 25 32 10 2

Test Tiles
1. Copper Carbonate. Base Glaze Copper Carbonate 100 3

Notice the distinct color dierence from 1. I suppose that in the original Lauras Turquoise, the rutile adds a little yellow to the green to make it more of a turquoise color, and also supplies a little more ux, since there seems to be little orange-peel texture.

Curie; though as long as one understands the risks and responsibilities that one takes on with glaze experimentation. . . I am extremely empathetic to the driving impetus with which curiosity takes us.

2. Nickel Carbonate colorant. Base Glaze 100 Nickel Carbonate 2 Here, the glaze looks to be very similar in texture to the original Lauras Turquoise, but is showing a yellow coloration with brown overtones.

3. Chrome Oxide colorant. Base Glaze 100 Chrome Oxide 1 Blah. Enough said?

4. Iron Oxide colorant. Base Glaze 100 Red Iron Oxide 10 Since Iron Oxide is a reasonably active ux in the correct proportions with Silica (they are eutectic), I expected that the amount of iron in this test would create a runny glaze. I was not disappointed. Though it seems to be simply runny and not exactly a fake-ash style glaze, that is, not really forming nice rivulets.

5. Ilmenite colored. Base Glaze 100 Ilmenite 15 Ilmenite is primarily Iron in composition with [a contamination of] titanium, of varying concentrations, where the titanium is replacing iron in the crystal structure. Hence, we would expect the reaction of the glaze to the Ilmenite in these proportions to be roughly the same as with the Iron above. Our expectations are fullled, though there appears to be a light reddish hint to the glaze with the Ilmenite in it. This appears to be worthwhile in exploring...

6. Copper tin Base Glaze Tin Oxide Copper Carbonate 100 3 1

I was hoping that with the introduction of tin to the copper, red copper would appear in the glaze. I suspect a nice red will be elusive with this glaze since ?high alumina? tends to inhibit the reduction of copper to red tones. We can see that a pale red appears with grey/green highlights, but the glaze did break nicely to white where thin. This glaze also appeared to craze slightly, and there was no appearance of an orange-peel texture. Possibly a candidate for strontium. . . 7. Chrome again. Base Glaze Chrome Oxide Tin Oxide 100 .2 6

I wasnt happy with the previous attempt involving chrome so I tested this again with a much smaller proportion of chrome (I also had seen what chrome did in the presence of titanium which encouraged my second attempt [3]). The addition of Tin Oxide was to encourage the formation of a Chrome-Tin pink. . . Which in this case didnt work (likely due to a strong reducing atmosphere), but still produced an interesting coloration of a mottled brown. Again, no orangepeel. Would this also be a candidate for strontium? 7

Questions
Noticing the trend regarding the runny-ness of each of these glazes; What direction should be taken for each of these to regain the beautiful orange-peel texture? Specically, how should the copper-tin recipe be modied in order to get a green-toned-red with a nice orange-peel texture? Less EPK? More Whiting? Complex-ify by introducing other alkaline earths? What does 3% to 15% rutile do? What does titanium or zinc do as modiers? Lithium? How does Barium or Strontium aect the surface texture and color?

Previous notes:
[1] Tim Carlson. Crystalline glaze notes. Scribd, August 2011. URL: http: //www.scribd.com/doc/61159120/Crystalline-Glaze-Notes. [2] Tim Carlson. Magnesium matte glaze notes. Scribd, August 2011. URL: http://www.scribd.com/doc/61411172/Magnesium-Matte-Tests. [3] Tim Carlson. Titanium matte glaze tests. Scribd, August 2011. URL: http://www.scribd.com/doc/61160558/Titanium-Mattes.