How to Make Ceramic Glazes
Nothing completes a beautiful piece of handmade pottery like a matching glaze. With these simple steps, you will not only be creating handmade pottery, but you will also be mixing unique, homemade glazes. Allow your work to speak for itself.
Things You'll Need
- Sieve
- Rubber rib (or other object to aid in sieving)
- Mixer
- Scale
- Glaze chemicals
- Glaze recipe
- Mask
- 2 buckets
Instructions
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1
Begin by determining what type of glaze you will need according to the firing type and clay body. Recipes generally can be found in a book or at reputable online sources and usually are expressed in amounts that total 100 to allow for simple computing.
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2
Gather your materials and chemicals according to your desired amount. Recipes can easily be altered as to amount by creating a proportion out of 100, multiplied by the desired number of grams. For example, if you want to make 1000 grams, you would add: 10 / 100 * 1000g of Ingredient A, 25 / 100 * 1000g of Ingredient B, 15 / 100 * 1000g of Ingredient C, 50 / 100 * 1000g of Ingredient D. The ingredients can easily be measured using a traditional triple beam or digital scale and should be done so one by one. Transfer each material to a bucket after measurement and clean the scale after each measurement to avoid contamination.
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3
Add the water to the dry materials. As a general rule, you may want to add the dry ingredients to the water. Most recipes are approximately 50 percent water, but to be safe, you may want to begin with a little less. Combine the ingredients with the water, stirring until material is evenly incorporated with no chunks.
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4
Continue by sieving the mixture at least three times to ensure that no clumps remain. To sieve the glaze, place the sieve over the bucket, and pour the glaze through the sieve, pushing it through with rubber rib.
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5
Dip a piece of pottery in the clay and remove it to test the glaze. Allow the glaze to dry and chip some of the glaze off of the pottery. The glaze should be no thicker than 1/8 inch. If you find that the glaze is too thick, add some water.
But if the glaze is too thin, let it settle over night and pour some of the water off. -
6
Store your glaze in an air tight container, and be sure to stir glaze very week.
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Tips & Warnings
Be sure to wear a mask while mixing the glaze, as several of the ingredients are toxic and should not be inhaled.
