Red effect glazes in an electric kiln

Jul 03, 2004 4 Replies

Can anyone tell me if it is possible to obtain reds and/or bright colours in the glazes when fired in an electric kiln?



I understand that you need a reduced environment for these, but is it possible during an oxidised firing?



I'm new to experimenting in mixing my own glazes, and at the moment, its a mind-boggling array of scientific calculations. So does anyone have any glaze recipes I can experiment with?



Is there an idiots guide to glaze making? ;-)



When first starting did any of you find mixing own glazes mind-boggling, and if so, how did you overcome it?


You can get red and bright orange and yellows with cadmium selium glazes at lower temps in Oxidation firing ie electric kiln Unless you need a large volume it is probably much simpler to purchase prepared from local pottery ( Ceramic ) supplier . They have reds for much higher temps also and fired as reduction >

Yes JM: There are a few "idiot's guides to glaze making":

You can buy a cheap version of glaze calculation software, such as GlazeMaster (my favorite), Insight, Matrix etc. The software will do all that nasty math for you and print out a recipe for you to try

There are any number of good books for glazes, such as Clay and Glazes for the Potter, Potter's Pallette, just do a Google search and prepare to be boggled.

I've struggled for a few years now to create cone 10 glazes for porcelain and have come up with four that work for me. With my clear, I can add colors that mimic a rainbow of choices. But I had to "borrow" a tenmoku and adjust it for my clay. I'm still in search of the perfect blue :>)

Good Luck!

You can get an earthy red with lots of Spanish or special iron oxide in your glaze.

digitalfire.com was an excellent source for information but I can no longer find my way around it. You might try it though (there was a great article on Red Iron Oxide glazes which I could not find). Mastering Cone 6 Glazes is very nice and has a nice clear glossy glaze that is a raspberry red. Low firing with stains I know works... You can get reds in oxidation firings... they just can't be copper red (which if not reduced is green... partially reduced is a really ugly green/red).

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Thanks for the replies...I'll certainly do some investigating. I forgot to mention that my glaze firings are to 1250 C as I work with stoneware, so I'd be looking at high temp glazes. I have a few basic recipes, but red isn't one of them. I too would like a nice deep blue glossy glaze - our local college has a fantastic mottled blue, but haven't managed to get the same effect. It's almost a blue/black with brown/purple-ish flecks - any ideas? I imagine a lot of cobalt is used!??

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