I’m looking for ideas, what glazes do you think look the best for dark clay bodies.
I’m not sure I would be the best one to ask. There is a FB group called AMACO Cone 5/6 Exchange that has given some great ideas when I ask. Pinterest also has glaze idea for dark clay. I have heard that most of the colors are better on dark clay but I haven’t used dark clay myself.
I would try the toasted sage, seaweed, blue rutile, or indigo float simply because when these work I think they are beautiful
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Unless you are planning a clear glaze, the dark body makes almost no difference. Dark bodies generally imply high iron content, you can have a glaze that encourages spotting.
The other thing you can do is light glaze accents then clear glaze over those. The accents should pop if you hold your tongue just right.
About all I know.
I second the Amaco cone 5-6 exchange group on facebook, also prefer Amaco Cosmic Teadust on dark clay.
I would recommend making some test samples.My Black clay is very tuff to decide on a glaze. the clay seem to out power almost everything. The test samples I ran on black a couple years ago did meh= ok with white dip glaze over the color glaze ] to bring the color out. But I usually leave a lot of the black clay body showing and just add a little color.
I agree with you on the teadust, I remember seeing a couple of your pieces a month or two ago and they did look great.
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What your describing is kinda what I’ve been running into, the clay seems to overpower the glaze. The example that comes to mind is Albany Brown Slip, on a light clay body it tends to be a mix of rusty brown color and cream which I like but looks totally different on the dark clay - I’m guessing the iron in the clay is reacting with the glaze?
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I think that is correct. Try some white under or over you color glaze
Yeah – the iron that turns your clay body that dark color definitely is affecting the PC glazes, as those get their color from a chemical reaction at temp. I put Dark Green on a dark clay, and it turned blue.
The Celadon line is what I’ve started calling a “pigment” glaze. The color isn’t reacting at the Cone 6 temp. However… most of the Celadons are transparent, so they tend to fade out over a dark clay. Snow is the exception there. Since the Celadons are pigment-based, it is possible to mix them like paint. I’d consider mixing some super-tiny batches and trying them out on test tiles to see if you like the colors. Blending with Snow will make them more pastel, but also more opaque.
You might also do something with the Stroke-n-Coats. Check the label to see if the color is one that fades or doesn’t. And, do some test tiles to see what it looks like over your clay. At the least, the S-n-C’s are opaque at the 3-coat level.
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Thanks for the input. Sounds like keep experimenting till you find something you like. I like many of the effects you get from Amaco potters choice glazes on “normal or lighter” clays but it just seems to loose something on dark clay, maybe not heavy enough coat - I’ll keep trying.
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Spectrum delft blue looks great on dark brown clay bodies. #1147
Thanks for the recommendation, I’ll check it out!