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new cream breaking red test

updated wed 30 apr 97

 

Roeder on thu 17 apr 97

Hello all,

Well I finally got around to testing the new version of Cream Breaking Red
(the food safe one provided by Tom Buck). Since it's a glaze I'm familiar
with and have used quite a bit, I was anxious to see how it would compare
with the original (well, the original with strontium instead of barium was
what I'd used in the past).

Sadly, the new one just doesn't have the look the old one did on the brown
clay. I applied it to white stoneware, brown stoneware and porcelain and
fired to cone 6 in oxidation in my Skutt kiln.

On the light clay, it was pretty darn close to the original, that being a
glossy cream beige with speckles. A nice usable glaze. But on the brown
clay (where it used to "break red...er, um, orange") it was poopy brown
where thin. Disappointing. Now, had you not seen the nice rusty color of
the original, you would have called it chocolate brown perhaps ;-)

I really liked the old version. Never sold it to the public, but have had
it on some odd pots around the house.

As per Richard Burkett's suggestion I DID test the old version in the
vinegar....overnight....14 hours or so. I could not see any change at all
in the appearance of the glaze. Not in bright sunlight. Not with a
magnifying glass. Still glossy. No change in texture or color. My mugs
are still glossy on the insides and outsides, too after 5 years of coffee
and dishwashers. I am not disagreeing with Tom or Richard that the glaze is
unstable/unsafe in a scientific, molecular way....it doesn't have the right
amount of silica...I just can't see it with these eyeballs is all.

If one were to add more RIO to the Tom Buck New Improved Cream Breaking Red
Brown Recipe (cone 6 oxidation) would it get more rusty? Or just a darker
version of the brown? I know I know....why don't I try it and see!?!!
Will do.

Too bad most of the "interesting" cone 6 oxy glazes are also hazardous to
your health!

Candice Roeder
livin in the sticks....in Michigan
CRoeder@worldnet.att.net
Candice Roeder
livin' in the sticks...in Michigan
CRoeder@worldnet.att.net