And another interest check - discussion of mixing glazes

This one’s a little trickier. Sue Rogers was a professional potter for some years, and she can mix glazes, and adjust glazes so that you get the same effect at different cones.

Now – it can only be a discussion. I don’t think we’ve got a serious enough vent hood anywhere in the space to actually mix glazes here. And if we did, I don’t think we can trust the average makerspacian enough to actually have tub glazes available here. They’d be messed up in a heartbeat.

So – this would be for your general interest. I noticed that Trinity Ceramics will mix glazes to your recipe. You could have your own bucket glazes.

2 Likes

I don t think you have to have hood to mix them and I understand that Sue still has some glaze chemibals
I think it would be a good class either way,

@dryad2b what abuses have you seen that make you feel we couldn’t support a few 5 gallon buckets half full of a glaze?

In my working on mixing glazes we never used a vent hood. We wore masks and did the mixing in water to keep the particulates down. Not sure the need of a vent hood unless we have some kind of a building requirement that I’m not aware of.

Thanks for all your work Beth. You and the rest of the fired art committee are doing great work to increase the options available to us and utilization of the fired arts.

2 Likes

I really enjoy making my own glazes (don’t need a vent hood, just a very good mask and reasonable caution about where and how you mix). But I also agree with you that self-made glazes are courting danger to your shelves and, if it all goes spectacularly wrong, other people’s pieces. I’m not sure where I fall on the idea. Here’s a question, I know volatile colors, like those with chrome and copper, can jump pots in a soda firing (of course) and in redux sometimes, can that happen in an electric oxidation firing? If someone was way-off on their formulation could it fume a whole load? I have no idea.

At least if folks take a class (I include myself in this one, I have a lot left to learn about glaze chem), the importance of test tiles and glaze trays can be extolled? Maybe this would be another use for the small Paragon. A classroom based, theory oriented class would be awesome regardless, some people have their own kilns/access to non-DMS kilns that they can go wild in. I wish I was in that group!

(So, so, agree that bucket glazes would work poorly at the space, they are tricky to maintain when you have a full time tech!)

1 Like

If the person mixing needs a mask, the hood would be so that everyone else in the workshop isn’t breathing what your protecting yourself from.

I don’t know if a hood is needed, but the MSDS sheets for the chemicals and the OSHA guidelines would be good indicators. Yes, I know we don’t have to obey OSHA, but there guidelines are a good indicator for safe practices.

2 Likes

Outside works fine. Pretty low particulates in air if mixed with care. More a concern for the person holding the mixer and leaning over the bucket. :slight_smile:

2 Likes

There is a set of people who make no effort to contact Fired Arts and know very little about ceramics in general. For a while, there was somebody coming in in the morning and leaving a wheel a total mess. All it would take is one person being significantly sloppy about dipping glazes to totally mess up the glazes. This happens occasionally at colleges and universities, where they’ve got a much tighter grip on access to the glazes.

Fortunately, the guy who hadn’t spotted the one (admittedly, poorly placed) sign that asked for a note on low-fire clay was pretty understanding.

The artist who was expecting glazes to be paint was not happy.

4 Likes

The other issue I see with 5 gal buckets is room for them

as to things effecting glazes, I once used some enamel powder
on the edge of s Nothlakes very dependable seafoam glaze, the
powder was a deep blue, I had trouble finding my piece after they were fired,
I was looking for a soft green piece with a blue edge, It eneded up being
bright yellow and we did not have a yellow glaze, It didnt seem to bother
any one else s pieces

I do think that the smaller kiln and test tiles would be a good idea for this

Who said anything about 5 gal buckets? We are so not busy enough for that.

2 Likes

Someone said 5 gallon buckets, we need a much smaller amount

We make small amounts and test We might want a larger amount of a
clear or a white,

Maybe start with pint or quart containers

Cairenn – stop right there. We’re talking a discussion class. Period.

2 Likes

Gotta go with Beth on this one. What you get away with at home and what you get away with in an institution aren’t the same in terms of mixing on site. The fired arts area and the clay dust is plenty of liability without adding glaze chemicals to the mix. We are required to have a vent system and a self contained environment for glaze mixing because of the age of students who access th campus. DMS is the same problem.

I’d definitely make someone who fired custom glaze at DMS provide their own cookies at least for the sake of the shelves. Maybe we can set up an AD directory for folks wanting to fire noncommerical glazes? They can practice at home after the lecture

2 Likes

Mixing glazes is not complicated if you have a good batch recipe. Yes, some chemicals are a little dusty, hence masks. If glazes are mixed in the fired arts area, the vent hoods we have for the kilns should be adequate.

There is a technique for using a base white or clear glaze and mixing measured amounts of colorants into small (measured) jars to get various glazes. this is relatively straightforward, and not usually a dust problem.

Colorants like copper that can affect nearby pots in a reduction firing, do not do so in an oxidation firing, because they are not trying to steal oxygen from wherever.

The discussion that Beth and I were thinking about concerned how you can take a glaze recipe for one temperature and convert it to another temperature. Can also be used when you have a glaze recipe but not the exact chemicals that are called for in the recipe, to figure out how to substitute. This involves a LOT of math and chemistry calculations. So if you don’t like math and chemistry, you may not like the discussion.

We might do a couple of classes, one on the altering a base white/clear glaze by adding colorants, and what colorants will (usually) get you what effects. Second on the actual calculations to convert recipes to empirical formulae and back again. Also maybe on digging your own clay in
N Dallas, and problems associated therewith.

Am looking at Nov, Dec, Jan time frame for this, due to my show schedule and other DMS classes (mostly in jewelry) I already have scheduled.

Let me know how the interest on this develops.
Thanks
Sue Rogers

2 Likes

when are you guys gonna start glass blowing?

After we move into a much, much larger space. And feel like we’ve got the $$ to hire a professional teacher.

1 Like

You need a glory hole for glass blowing, it is a high tep typr of a 'forge; gor lack of a better
word,

Now there is lamp working of glass that can be done with torches

Thanks Sue! I had kind of suspected that in oxidation those types of would be more stable but wasn’t sure. I’m all in for experimentation, I’m a big fan of John Britt and have mixed up some glazes from his high fire book with great success. I’m very interested in the core glaze chemistry.

I’ve blown glass before and it is absolutely awesome (with killer good burn your skin off potential). It’s also possible to move past the ‘glass paperweight with air bubbles!’ beginner’s standard fairly quickly, which constitutes the bulk of classes offered around. So far my plans of ninja-building an annex into the back parking lot for a hot glass shop have been unsuccessful, but I have an instructor to recommend (assuming he’s still teaching). Try Blake Boettcher over at Bowman Glass (Griffin off of 30). It’s an awesome shop space and he was excellent teacher.

1 Like