Sunday, April 29, 2007

The REAL Blue

I've been experimenting with some blue color variations of the Waterfall Brown glaze. The recipe for this glaze is included in "Mastering Cone 6 Glazes" by John Hesselberth and Ron Roy. Like many other potters out there, I'm a big fan of this book.

The first tile, shown below, is what I used to call Waterfall Blue, since it had some lovely subtle blue tones, thanks to the Rutile.
Yesterday, while firing a load of glazed tiles, I mixed up a few small batches, trying to find a nice green that would go well with wood. I did a tri-axial blend with 3 oxides, and I think I may have been lucky enough to hit a home run. Now THAT'S what I call Waterfall Blue.
These samples are about 3 inches square, and since I place them on a pegboard display, I put a small hole in them for hanging.
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12 comments:

  1. Unknown8:25 PM

    I'm a sucker for blue and love waterfall. I have the book. Can you tell me what colorants you used when you stumbled on this one? Also, is this a darker clay body?

    I'm enjoying watching your progress on the search for the green. Keep us posted.

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  2. Wood It Is!9:28 PM

    Warren,

    The recipe for the REAL BLUE glaze uses the four base ingredients, plus this: 4% Copper Carb and .5% Cobalt Carb.

    And yes, I do use a very dark clay, it fires the color of a Hershey bar. It's called Black Mountain, purchased from Aardvark, in Las Vegas.

    Good luck- let me know what you come up with!

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  3. Unknown8:26 PM

    Thanks! I'll give it a try. I use mostly light colored clay bodies, but I have a terra cotta body that fires dark brown. I'll try it on my white stoneware and let you know how it works.

    You've inspired me to get back into glaze testing. I just need to make some test tiles. Since I do mostly functional pottery, I will try some vertical tests and see how this runs.

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  4. Sacredclay7:45 PM

    Thanks for sharing your experience and your recipes. It really makes me proud to see how us potters share all the info. Warmly, Kathryn Hughes in NC

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  5. Wood It Is!8:33 PM

    Kathryn,

    That's a really good point about the wonderful sharing aspect of the ClayArt board.

    I've been a member of the Furniture Society for many years, and not only don't we have anything like this idea exchange, but there really isn't the camaraderie that the potters enjoy.

    I would love to have something like that with my wood buds.


    Jamie

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  6. Maple Hill4:27 PM

    Could this be converted to cone 9/10?

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  7. Wood It Is!8:50 AM

    I know I've read how convert cone 6 recipes to cone 9/10, but I don't remember where I've seen them. I would contact the authors of the book (John Hesselberth and Ron Roy) and see if they would be willing to help. They were awfully gracious and helpful when I wrote to them many years ago.

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  8. Anonymous3:14 PM

    What is the formula for waterfall blue?

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  9. teresitacapurro10:45 PM

    Hello I had the book and It got loss in the mail when I mover back to My country ( argentina) would you be so kínd to Share the recepie? Thanks!

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  10. Kay Wiemer Gerke10:00 AM

    Have you posted your glaze recipes? I would really like to do my own experimentation with them. Please share them!

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  11. Kay Wiemer Gerke10:03 AM

    I am interested in the cone 6 glazes, primarily, but the cone 10 would also be appreciated. Please share the recipes, thank you so much!

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  12. Wood It Is!10:22 AM

    Kay,

    Out of respect for the authors of the "Mastering Cone Six Glazes" book - I never completely published their recipes. But I used their base recipe, and then added in the various colorants/chemicals to achieve the version that I wanted. If you read my old blog posts and have that book, it's pretty easy to figure them out.

    If you can't - send me an email at jamie@wooditis.com and I'll try to help.

    Thanks for reading!

    Jamie

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