So I worked on another set of sample tiles. This time it was bronze, called Lamp’s Bronze. The recipe is pretty straightforward with nice results but I am having troubles with changing it.
The base recipe is
Lamp’s Bronze
7 – Ball Clay
86 – Cedar Heights Redart
7 – Silica
_____________________14% Cobalt Carbonate
14% Copper Carbonate
64% Manganese Dioxide
I wanted to play around so from left to right these are:
5% – frit 3134
5% – Nepheline Syenite
2% – Lithium Carbonate
5% – G200 HP Feldspar
5% – Tin Oxide
I have to admit I am still shooting in the dark. I think the guys who are really good at this know what sort of results they will get with a particular chemical whereas I am still trying to figure out what each of them do. I ended up signing up for Digitalfire insight.
This is hard-code pottery here. It’s science based with dry tests and melt tests and all sorts of information. It has already proved helpful. And along with John Britt’s Complete Guide to mid-fire glazes I am confident I can start producing some kick ass pieces. I already have a few I like. This is a semi-gloss cream with a variegated blue dripped on it. I love the warm oranges and the random spots of blue.
But again I am relying a lot on chance. I need to get more control.