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while looking at some glaze tests

updated fri 18 aug 06

 

Lynne and Bruce Girrell on mon 14 aug 06


This is going to end up being a technical question kind of post, but what
leads to it is the work of Chun Wen Wang, a Taiwanese artist who has created
the most spectacular glazes I have ever seen. Fireworks erupt from his pots,
from bright bursts to glittering embers trailing down. Lava flows. And the
night sky shines.

Check him out.

He describes many of his glazes as " "liquid in liquid" separated glaze". As
much as I admired his work, I looked a bit at what creates a phase separated
glass and, if I have this right, it is the intermixing of two glasses that
have different characteristics. Different portions of the glass will appear
differently because they have different physical properties. So, after
asking a few questions here and reading what I could find, it seemed that
doing things like adding phosphorous would help in the creation of a
multi-phase glass.

Tonight I was looking at some rutile blue experiments that I had just pulled
from the kiln. This test was a set of tiles that were Glaze A over Glaze B /
Glaze B over Glaze A combinations.

Anything that looks interesting gets examined with a microscope.* One tile
caught my eye immediately. Under the microscope it is a whole new world. You
can see bubbles, crystals, and flow patterns. You can see what gives the
glaze its color. With rutile blues there's a lot to look at. The flow
patterns struck me.

I was, of course, looking at a glaze layering test and saw that the color
pattern that had originally caught my eye was a result of the way that the
two glazes were interacting - or _not_ interacting may be the case. They
were acting as different phases.

It then occurred to me that the easiest way to create a phase separated
glass would be to simply apply it as two or more individual glazes to begin
with and let the different glasses duke it out in the melt. Now this may be
something that every Joe Blow who has layered glazes has known since day 1,
but it came as a revelation to me. Sort of a "Doh! Of course" revelation,
but a revelation just the same. Or.......

Is the layering of two glazes of differing makeup a different situation from
adding an ingredient (as in phosphorous) to a single mix to help promote the
separation of phases from one another during melting?

And - Anybody have a clue as to how Chun Wen Wang produces his effects?

Want to know something freaky? I was looking at the test tile that I was
talking about while I was writing this and I realized that the code letters
that I had assigned to the tile were CW.

Bruce Girrell
in cool, clear northern Michigan
The pots and test tiles around me are still singing
(ping)


(ping)

*The type of microscope that I'm talking about is a low power stereo
microscope. Magnification is in the range of 6x to 40x. One nice thing about
low magnification is that you don't have to have the world's best optics to
produce a decent image. That translates into actually being able to afford
one. People often think that you need to have high magnification when, in
fact, the higher the magnification, the more specialized the uses become. At
low magnification you can hold an object in your hands and turn it as you
examine it; you can really relate to the specimen.

They are wonderful thngs to have. Probably my favorite toy. Looking at a
glaze with one will give you a whole new perspective and understanding of
glazes. They are practical as well. Sometimes a pot will have an
unpleasantly sharp spot. A Dremel tool with a diamond burr can be controlled
with great care when you can actually see what you're doing. The offending
point can be removed with no damage to the surrounding glaze. And splinter
surgery can be done almost painlessly.

Jo Ann Fugate on tue 15 aug 06


Website to see any of Chun Wen Wang's works?

Lynne and Bruce Girrell wrote: This is going to end up being a technical question kind of post, but what
leads to it is the work of Chun Wen Wang, a Taiwanese artist who has created
the most spectacular glazes I have ever seen. Fireworks erupt from his pots,
from bright bursts to glittering embers trailing down. Lava flows. And the
night sky shines.

Check him out.

He describes many of his glazes as " "liquid in liquid" separated glaze". As
much as I admired his work, I looked a bit at what creates a phase separated
glass and, if I have this right, it is the intermixing of two glasses that
have different characteristics. Different portions of the glass will appear
differently because they have different physical properties. So, after
asking a few questions here and reading what I could find, it seemed that
doing things like adding phosphorous would help in the creation of a
multi-phase glass.

Tonight I was looking at some rutile blue experiments that I had just pulled
from the kiln. This test was a set of tiles that were Glaze A over Glaze B /
Glaze B over Glaze A combinations.

Anything that looks interesting gets examined with a microscope.* One tile
caught my eye immediately. Under the microscope it is a whole new world. You
can see bubbles, crystals, and flow patterns. You can see what gives the
glaze its color. With rutile blues there's a lot to look at. The flow
patterns struck me.

I was, of course, looking at a glaze layering test and saw that the color
pattern that had originally caught my eye was a result of the way that the
two glazes were interacting - or _not_ interacting may be the case. They
were acting as different phases.

It then occurred to me that the easiest way to create a phase separated
glass would be to simply apply it as two or more individual glazes to begin
with and let the different glasses duke it out in the melt. Now this may be
something that every Joe Blow who has layered glazes has known since day 1,
but it came as a revelation to me. Sort of a "Doh! Of course" revelation,
but a revelation just the same. Or.......

Is the layering of two glazes of differing makeup a different situation from
adding an ingredient (as in phosphorous) to a single mix to help promote the
separation of phases from one another during melting?

And - Anybody have a clue as to how Chun Wen Wang produces his effects?

Want to know something freaky? I was looking at the test tile that I was
talking about while I was writing this and I realized that the code letters
that I had assigned to the tile were CW.

Bruce Girrell
in cool, clear northern Michigan
The pots and test tiles around me are still singing
(ping)


(ping)

*The type of microscope that I'm talking about is a low power stereo
microscope. Magnification is in the range of 6x to 40x. One nice thing about
low magnification is that you don't have to have the world's best optics to
produce a decent image. That translates into actually being able to afford
one. People often think that you need to have high magnification when, in
fact, the higher the magnification, the more specialized the uses become. At
low magnification you can hold an object in your hands and turn it as you
examine it; you can really relate to the specimen.

They are wonderful thngs to have. Probably my favorite toy. Looking at a
glaze with one will give you a whole new perspective and understanding of
glazes. They are practical as well. Sometimes a pot will have an
unpleasantly sharp spot. A Dremel tool with a diamond burr can be controlled
with great care when you can actually see what you're doing. The offending
point can be removed with no damage to the surrounding glaze. And splinter
surgery can be done almost painlessly.

______________________________________________________________________________
Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org

You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/

Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.



---------------------------------
Stay in the know. Pulse on the new Yahoo.com. Check it out.

W J Seidl on wed 16 aug 06


Bruce:
Check out the USB microscope (for your PC or MAC) at www.cyberguys.com, =
part
number 142 0825. Up to 200X magnification. Not stereoscopic though :>(
and probably a bit pricey for most folks.

At that magnification, I might even be able to find my brain!

Best,
Wayne Seidl
the unabashed tool junkie

-----Original Message-----
From: Clayart [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG] On Behalf Of Lynne and =
Bruce
Girrell
Sent: Monday, August 14, 2006 11:38 PM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: While looking at some glaze tests

snip

Anything that looks interesting gets examined with a microscope.* One =
tile
caught my eye immediately. Under the microscope it is a whole new world. =
You
can see bubbles, crystals, and flow patterns. You can see what gives the
glaze its color. With rutile blues there's a lot to look at. The flow
patterns struck me.
big snip for space

*The type of microscope that I'm talking about is a low power stereo
microscope. Magnification is in the range of 6x to 40x. One nice thing =
about
low magnification is that you don't have to have the world's best optics =
to
produce a decent image. That translates into actually being able to =
afford
one. People often think that you need to have high magnification when, =
in
fact, the higher the magnification, the more specialized the uses =
become. At
low magnification you can hold an object in your hands and turn it as =
you
examine it; you can really relate to the specimen.

They are wonderful thngs to have. Probably my favorite toy. Looking at a
glaze with one will give you a whole new perspective and understanding =
of
glazes. They are practical as well. Sometimes a pot will have an
unpleasantly sharp spot. A Dremel tool with a diamond burr can be =
controlled
with great care when you can actually see what you're doing. The =
offending
point can be removed with no damage to the surrounding glaze. And =
splinter
surgery can be done almost painlessly.

Denise Wright on thu 17 aug 06


Hi folks,
Like you, my husband and I were absolutely fascinated by Wang Chun Wen's
work. Have you seen the article in Ceramics monthly (April 1997) (author
Jack Hachigian, from San Diego) about him with an illustration of some of
his fabulous pots?
We've tried his original Chinese glaze which gave a smooth matt burgundy
glaze. Our further tests of this glaze haven't brought up anything
especially good (probably haven't done enough of them).

In case you haven't seen this article, the basic glaze is as follows:

4% Edgar plastic kaolin 10% bone ash 8% talc 10% iron oxide 20%
flint 48%feldspar

He evidently worked with John Conrad in the U.S.A. to develop glazes.
I'd love to see a website dedicated to his work.
Cheers,
Denise Wright
Queensland. Australia
-----

> Website to see any of Chun Wen Wang's works?
>
> Lynne and Bruce Girrell wrote: This is going
> to end up being a technical question kind of post, but what
> leads to it is the work of Chun Wen Wang, a Taiwanese artist who has
> created
> the most spectacular glazes I have ever seen. Fireworks erupt from his
> pots,
> from bright bursts to glittering embers trailing down. Lava flows. And the
> night sky shines.
>
> Check him out.
>
> He describes many of his glazes as " "liquid in liquid" separated glaze".
> As
> much as I admired his work, I looked a bit at what creates a phase
> separated
> glass and, if I have this right, it is the intermixing of two glasses that
> have different characteristics. Different portions of the glass will
> appear
> differently because they have different physical properties. So, after
> asking a few questions here and reading what I could find, it seemed that
> doing things like adding phosphorous would help in the creation of a
> multi-phase glass.
>
> Tonight I was looking at some rutile blue experiments that I had just
> pulled
> from the kiln. This test was a set of tiles that were Glaze A over Glaze B
> /
> Glaze B over Glaze A combinations.
>
> Anything that looks interesting gets examined with a microscope.* One tile
> caught my eye immediately. Under the microscope it is a whole new world.
> You
> can see bubbles, crystals, and flow patterns. You can see what gives the
> glaze its color. With rutile blues there's a lot to look at. The flow
> patterns struck me.
>
> I was, of course, looking at a glaze layering test and saw that the color
> pattern that had originally caught my eye was a result of the way that the
> two glazes were interacting - or _not_ interacting may be the case. They
> were acting as different phases.
>
> It then occurred to me that the easiest way to create a phase separated
> glass would be to simply apply it as two or more individual glazes to
> begin
> with and let the different glasses duke it out in the melt. Now this may
> be
> something that every Joe Blow who has layered glazes has known since day
> 1,
> but it came as a revelation to me. Sort of a "Doh! Of course" revelation,
> but a revelation just the same. Or.......
>
> Is the layering of two glazes of differing makeup a different situation
> from
> adding an ingredient (as in phosphorous) to a single mix to help promote
> the
> separation of phases from one another during melting?
>
> And - Anybody have a clue as to how Chun Wen Wang produces his effects?
>
> Want to know something freaky? I was looking at the test tile that I was
> talking about while I was writing this and I realized that the code
> letters
> that I had assigned to the tile were CW.
>
> Bruce Girrell
> in cool, clear northern Michigan
> The pots and test tiles around me are still singing
> (ping)
>
>
> (ping)
>
> *The type of microscope that I'm talking about is a low power stereo
> microscope. Magnification is in the range of 6x to 40x. One nice thing
> about
> low magnification is that you don't have to have the world's best optics
> to
> produce a decent image. That translates into actually being able to afford
> one. People often think that you need to have high magnification when, in
> fact, the higher the magnification, the more specialized the uses become.
> At
> low magnification you can hold an object in your hands and turn it as you
> examine it; you can really relate to the specimen.
>
> They are wonderful thngs to have. Probably my favorite toy. Looking at a
> glaze with one will give you a whole new perspective and understanding of
> glazes. They are practical as well. Sometimes a pot will have an
> unpleasantly sharp spot. A Dremel tool with a diamond burr can be
> controlled
> with great care when you can actually see what you're doing. The offending
> point can be removed with no damage to the surrounding glaze. And splinter
> surgery can be done almost painlessly.
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
> melpots@pclink.com.
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Stay in the know. Pulse on the new Yahoo.com. Check it out.
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
> melpots@pclink.com.
>
>
>
> --
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.10.9/416 - Release Date: 10/08/2006
>
>



--
Internal Virus Database is out-of-date.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.10.9/416 - Release Date: 10/08/2006

Gail Phillips on thu 17 aug 06


fooey on cyberguys - look here - http://www.compuvisor.com/qx5diblmicom.html much less dinero!

-g

-------------- Original message --------------
From: W J Seidl

> Bruce:
> Check out the USB microscope (for your PC or MAC) at www.cyberguys.com, part
> number 142 0825. Up to 200X magnification. Not stereoscopic though :>(
> and probably a bit pricey for most folks.
>
> At that magnification, I might even be able to find my brain!
>
> Best,
> Wayne Seidl
> the unabashed tool junkie
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Clayart [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG] On Behalf Of Lynne and Bruce
> Girrell
> Sent: Monday, August 14, 2006 11:38 PM
> To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
> Subject: While looking at some glaze tests
>
> snip
>
> Anything that looks interesting gets examined with a microscope.* One tile
> caught my eye immediately. Under the microscope it is a whole new world. You
> can see bubbles, crystals, and flow patterns. You can see what gives the
> glaze its color. With rutile blues there's a lot to look at. The flow
> patterns struck me.
> big snip for space
>
> *The type of microscope that I'm talking about is a low power stereo
> microscope. Magnification is in the range of 6x to 40x. One nice thing about
> low magnification is that you don't have to have the world's best optics to
> produce a decent image. That translates into actually being able to afford
> one. People often think that you need to have high magnification when, in
> fact, the higher the magnification, the more specialized the uses become. At
> low magnification you can hold an object in your hands and turn it as you
> examine it; you can really relate to the specimen.
>
> They are wonderful thngs to have. Probably my favorite toy. Looking at a
> glaze with one will give you a whole new perspective and understanding of
> glazes. They are practical as well. Sometimes a pot will have an
> unpleasantly sharp spot. A Dremel tool with a diamond burr can be controlled
> with great care when you can actually see what you're doing. The offending
> point can be removed with no damage to the surrounding glaze. And splinter
> surgery can be done almost painlessly.