Newbie Adventure Report

You have a good book, good luck with your glaze firing. Remember to make sure you have no glaze on the bottoms of your pots, you can wax them but you still need to wipe them off. Make sure the glaze is not too thick and allow a little bit of space between the glaze and the bottom of the pot. Also make sure when you stack the kiln that nothing is touching. Good luck :o)

Tip - when mixing glazes from raw state - let it 'soak' for 24 hours before putting on your pots. JM

And for me (this may be superstitious behavior) it seems that iron glazes (toby's/randy's red, floating blue) seem to mature into a richer color over time.

In article , DKat writes

I've noticed this particular phenomenon, especially with coloured Raku glazes which seem to behave almost like a wine; they improve and become more spectacular over about 14 months, and then after 14 to 18 months turn, almost overnight into black matt clinker. I've put it down to an unstable reaction from a high Frit content with copper, either carbonate or oxide. Doesn't seem to happen quite so violently with other oxides. Out of curiosity; do the 2 glazes you mention contain any Gerstley Borate?

Steve

Yes they do have gerstley - they are old cone 6 oxidation glazes. Many have attempted to create the same glazes using frits and I believe Ron Roy has a floating blue people use that is successful some of the time. Of course the same can be said of the originals. When the Gods are with you they are really amazingly rich and beautiful (especially with a little honey thrown on them - another gerstley that is high in rutile) but the can be really flat and disappointing if you don't put them on thick enough, do a proper cool down, etc.

Donna

P.S. Found this in the archives - look for Ron Roy.