search  current discussion  categories  materials - rutile 

potters and recent rutile testing

updated wed 24 aug 05

 

bill edwards on tue 23 aug 05


Hi,

Several of our stand-by's aren't posting regular and I
was wondering about them. Where's Charles Moore at? We
got to keep everyone in line and accounted for.

Wow to Bonnie for the web site and easy navigation and
her BLOG story. What a wonderful person she is!

OK, you made it this far. Now lets talk about the
recent firing of my ^6 oxidation glazes to a flat ^11
in reduction using a rutile wash I conjured up using
whats left of my GB.

Steve has worked very hard on this as well on his own
and I made mention to him to keep me informed as I
would him. This has been on-going for me for years and
the heat ramps have always been interesting because
that alone has helped me make better decisions for
glazes over the years. ^6 is coming into it's own. I
don't expect to ever completely replace what we see in
reduction but we can even the playing field a little
and make wares thats just as nice, just as good and
equally as appealing in their own way.
I made 3 small Saki jars with matching little cups.
Call them whatever you like.

1. Was using my Stormy's Lavender Purple named after a
now deceased friend and formulated many years ago. I
only done brushed decoration with exception to the top
of one. SLP came out the same as in oxidation with no
discernable difference except for the oxide wash where
traces of iron and some rutile crystals were at work.
The cooling process was quicker than what this glaze
is usually cooled at in my kiln. I might add a little
more sheen could be noticed but that would be expected
since the melt hit a higher range but this would also
happen at ^6 with longer soaks. Heat work. Reduction
plays some on colorants and we know this. This is a
case that's not worthy to note but vital for my
research notes and efforts.

2. A copper glaze with my clear glaze liner inside
both the jar and cups. The color in oxidation is a
turquoise, it had no tin involved, no pinking or red
in reduction and it wasn't expected. It lost the
copper colorant and went to clear but helped the
rutile migrate a little and show some distinctive
patterns that I like. The copper went up the chimney
but did help the rutile some on its way out.

3. My old Shocking Shino which isn't a real shino at
all. In Oxidation it did give some rise to the
colorant varients of some shino's thus the name but
don't let that imply to you its anywhere near a Shino.
I should Change the name but its been around for a
long while. Perhaps adding a good chunk of tin would
help qualify this a little and maybe enough would even
blister it.
This one acted strange even though the cups were right
behind it. The Jar body blistered, the top where the
rutile wash was and the body where I hit it a few
strokes with the wash was fine, The top of the jar was
completely matte and is answered by the complex tight
grouping of the rutile or rather mass and locked. The
cups had zero blistering and they were beside it. Lets
consider the blistering also formed completely around
the jar so this throws me a little because the cups
were there as well and should have shown some
blistering. Perhaps the answers to this lies in the
thickness of the body and glaze asorption verses the
thinner cups where minimum glaze entered the pourous
structure? Over fluxed by the iron in reduction. Iron
can do strange things as rutile has been known to go
pink. In Oxidation its a semi matte glaze with a soft
tan to light shades with iron kisses here and there.
It reactes differently on various clays to the point
of being a solid color to that of various shades of
color between soft tan to heavy iron brown/reds. You
can see a more solidified color of this glaze on my
BLOG, its the urn with the iron wash top piece and a
front medallion.

Also many thanks to a long standing friend of mine in
Midland for firing the MN Flat-top with these pieces
in it. His work came out just exactly like it should.
I started to sneak a bowl home with me but he has a
very watchful eye and his wife's eye was keener than
usual that day. Maybe next time! Thanks Jon.

Now I will be testing other ramps in ^6 and making
changes as I move through more of these late night
experiments. I have always used ramp/holds but the
more information I gather the more I can understand
the values of heat work. What hurts is the extra hours
used and time the electric meter is spinning, so the
pottery has to have something worthy in there to pay
those bills and do repairs on occasion.

Bill Edwards
Edmar Studio and Gallery
302 South Main St (Shipping)
POB 367 (Mailing)
Camp Hill, Al. 36850
http://apottersmark.blogspot.com/
"!" And I quote that
CampHillBilly

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com