Dry matt barium glaze (Ox ^6-10?)

Try going to

They have an excellent substitution listing.

Personally, I would stay as far away from that glaze as I could. You don't mention what cone you are firing to, but considering the toxicity of the two items (barium and lithium) perhaps you would be better off using a commercial glaze and firing to a lower cone.

Hope that helps,

Just because a glaze is a commercial glaze it does not mean that it is not toxic. They are still made from the same materials. True if you buy it made up (not in powder form) you mostly eliminate inhalation as a problem. He did say that he wants this glaze for purely decorative work, so IMO thats fine. It is only when people use unsafe glazes on functional ware that I get cross. Of course all glaze materials should be treated with respect, masks, wet wipe up etc etc.

Hi Lewis, I would tend to agree that it is better to stay away from it FOR THE TIME BEING. This is not a good glaze to start playing with. WHY?- when first starting out people generally don't have "safe working" habits developed. Proper mask, gloves, working area..etc... we all tend to learn as we go, and as we make mistakes. Well, this glaze is not a good one to learn with. And, there are safe alternatives with just as bright colours. I can give you some recipes for cone 6 oxidation. E mail me on: snipped-for-privacy@bigfoot.com cheers, Andrea

Do you want cone 6 or cone 10. You didn't say. I agree with the other poster that for a neophyte, you really should try to avoid those toxic glazes. Just because you think the piece is just decorative, doesn't mean someone down the line won't decide to use it as a functional piece. There is a bright blue cone 6 glaze in the Ian Currie book that is a safe glaze. It looks a lot like the bright barium blue I think you are looking for. It is an oxidation glaze. You can get barium blues in oxidation and reduction. If you want to see the glaze and get the recipe, and instructions, go to my web site and check out my Group 2 of the cone 6 tiles. It's the third row down, 2nd from the left.

Good luck! June

Thanks for the tip and pointers. It's cone 6 - 10 oxidation (I put that in the subject - I thought it would be better there - now I know different :) )

The piece is purely decorative (I hesitate to use the word 'sculptural' for my naive efforts).

Thge kind of barium blue I'm after is like the ones here

- seemingly based onStrontium rather than Barium, so it might be off to the shops for me(and to buy some Neph Sy as I'm fed up doing all the substitutionsrequired 'cos I don't have it!)Thanks

Lewis

Most of those look like sprayed on stains (with cobalt as the main ingredient in some form I would guess). If it not functional ware do you really need a glaze?

Err no, I suppose not - but I don't know any other way to get that faulous dry matt finish (that I have seen with barium and the strontium ones look very simlar) - maybe there is another way, but I'm just starting out on glazing and have no idea!

The "deep blue series" work is definately a strontium glaze (I know that from an email) as, I think is the "Epitomes" and some of the other blues and greens too.

Leiws

If you have a recipe that says cone 6-10 and you are firing toward the top end of the that, you might trying subbing a soda spar like Kona F4 or NC 4 soda spar for the Neph. Sy, if you don't want to bother doing the chemistry to match it exactly.

Regards, June Perry

Hi there, All of the coloured stuff on the mentioned web site are glazes, on porcelain, fired to 1220 centigrade in electric kiln. Blue ones contain 1 -

2 % cobalt carb. Occasionally I spray slips the same way and that produces REALLY dry, velvety finish. Because it is hard to clean it is not suitable for functional ware, but it is neither toxic ( to the best of my knowledge) or porous. Cobalt or black slip are really nice ( no manganese). If anybody is interested, I can give more info on that. Back to those glazes... The Vases (Deep blue series) are functional if you want to use them. If the glazes are dry, doesn't mean the piece is non-functional. I am currently working on a set of beakers with dry glazes, I intend to put softer ( satin) glaze on the rim. The glazes on epitomes ( blue, green & ochre) are satin and I use them on mugs and bowls for the family ( I don't make any for sale at this stage) and they are among favourites. I don't see any need to use stains for blues and greens - stains tend to be expensive compared to the oxides and carbonates. Hey Lewis, Thanks for sharing my site, I am still kinda self-conscious about it. Kind regards, Andrea

Eeek! I hope you didn't mind!

I don't mind, It's a compliment! Andrea