Pottery

Glaze Development - Iron Phosphorus Green
Glaze Development - Iron Phosphorus Green

Introduction

This page documents ongoing attempts to produce a rich, variegated green glaze using an iron/phosphorus mechanism in cone 6 borosilicate glaze.

Some key takeaways so far:

  • A lithium-rich base produces a better green than a soda or potash base
  • A small addition of lanthanum oxide appears to brighten the effect without changing the color

Iron/Phosphorus Glaze

Blue Hare, Hare’s Fur, or Floating Blue is a widely used effect in pottery studio glazes and commercial glazes.

Glaze Material Substitution Calculators
Glaze Material Substitution Calculators

Glaze Material Substitutions

This page provides a set of calculators to help with calculating common material substitutions in glaze recipes.

Warning: These calculators are based on theoretical UMF analysis of the materials, and I have not verified them experimentally. Oxide analysis isn’t the only factor that determines how a material will behave in a glaze.

Each calculator allows for conversions between two material forms. Click “Switch” to toggle the conversion direction. Red cells indicate that a material should be subtracted from the recipe.

Conical vector decals in Inkscape
Conical vector decals in Inkscape

Wrapping vector artwork around a conical object in Inkscape

Free vector editing tools are pretty lacking in intuitive ways to wrap a template around a conical object (i.e. mug or vase). I aim to produce a vinyl decal that can be applied perfectly to a ceramic piece without any stretching.

This post is not a step-by-step procedure, but rather a general overview of the steps that I use to fit vector artwork to pieces of pottery using Inkscape and a vinyl cutter.