Author : terrajade

Here are some examples of achievements with this lichen green enamel:

To obtain this lichen green glaze, my starting point was my first research with oak ash, thanks to which I obtained a transparent glaze. I decided to keep this same base and to add metallic copper oxides in different proportions:

We find the obtained tressaillage and we obtain moreover a green color. We can notice however a very runny glaze. To make the enamel less runny, I increase the ash content (top), then I increase the nepheline syenite content (bottom). The result is confusing:

There seems to be no difference between these tests... So I give up on changing the glaze constitution. Using my middle recipe, I try to apply this glaze on a larger piece:

The positive side is that I find the color and the braiding. The negative side is that the glaze is very runny and looks very impacted by the thickness since we can see unglazed areas at the top of the piece. The enameling of this piece was done with a brush, hence the important differences on the piece.

It is important to test the thickness of this enamel (link to build a small tool to measure the thickness of the enamel):

We can observe, as with my transparent tressaillé glaze, a flowing glaze when it is laid thick. The ideal sample is between sample 2 and 3.

As for the transparent version of this glaze, we can further highlight the cracks due to the braiding. For this, we proceed to the addition of Indian ink that will seep into the cracks.

Here is a close-up sample:

and its back with Indian ink:

back to other enamels

Here are some pieces with this enamel:

To create this " Majorelle blue " enamel (the blue you find everywhere when you visit Majorelle's famous garden in Marrakech), my starting point was my white enamel, to which I added cobalt in various proportions:

Sample 4 (red dot) holds my interest, I keep this cobalt concentration and I vary the tin oxide used, in principle, to mattify the enamel:

The impact of the tin on this glaze is clearly visible. The glaze becomes more viscous (less flowing) when tin is added.

Tin oxide is a rather expensive raw material. According to the literature, it is possible to use zirconium silicate as a substitute. I replace the tin oxide with zirconium silicate and vary the proportions in order to compare the matting power of each oxide:

Indeed, after comparing the results, zirconium silicate brings a similar effect to tin oxide. So I choose this option. I select the second to last sample (red dot) and test it on slightly larger pieces:

I'm happy with the result! This enamel joins my collection!

back to other enamels

Here are some pieces made with and enamel:

In order to obtain this transparent glaze with braiding, I started a research around oak ash, mixing, in equal proportions, oak ash and Nepheline Syenite, while adding silica in different proportions:

The sample on the bottom left contains the least amount of silica. I decide to continue to lower this rate and then, when it is zero (top right sample), I proceed to an addition of alumina through kaolin to observe the reaction:

I select the sample (top left) where we can see a beautiful crackling (crackling of the enamel due to a difference in expansion between the enamel and the shard).

This enamel seems satisfactory, I decide to try this enamel on a more important piece:

I then get a nice tressaillage. I will continue my research by adding metallic oxides to this glaze which you can follow in other articles. I will also do a thickness test (see here for the explanation of the tool construction): with this transparent enamel:

We can see that the glaze is very runny if placed thick. The second sample corresponds to the thickness that we will try to reproduce. This is to obtain a nice braid without too much flow.

And one last little trick to bring out the tremor on the piece: we add Indian ink to the brush on the piece. The ink will seep into the cracks. Once the ink is dry, simply clean the ink from the surface of the enamel. And you get a great effect. I have done the operation on the back of the sample 2 above:

back to other enamels

Here are some examples of achievements with this enamel:

For this glaze, which I call "crocodile skin", my starting point was my red oil glaze, to which I added cobalt oxide in various proportions. Here's the result:

It is very little visible, but a green and bluish color appears on the 2nd and 3rd samples.

I decide to continue the research with the cobalt concentrations of the first 3 samples and by varying this time the iron oxide, top cobalt at 0.1%, middle 0.5% and bottom at 1%, and from left to right from 5 to 9% iron oxide.

The middle line shows a drop of oil with an orange/brown tint on a green background. I find the effect interesting.

I select the leftmost sample on the middle row and decide to test it on a small piece:

As the result was very disappointing in my opinion, I was about to throw in the towel with this enamel. Instead of throwing away the excess enamel, I decided to apply it on a piece to finish it. Unfortunately, or rather fortunately, I had a little more left over than I expected. I had to apply it quite thickly to finish it.

And here is the result!

I tell myself that, in the end, it's still worth it!

So I decided to test it with different thicknesses:

This "crocodile skin" glaze shows once again the importance of enamel thickness(link to build a small tool to measure enamel thickness)!

back to other enamels

Here are some pieces made with this enamel:

I named this glaze starry night. I wanted to obtain a "khaki" glaze using Daniel de Montmollin's diagram 48 as a starting point, with an iron oxide content of 25%. I make a small series using a triangle:

The point A0 (close-up) that I select to continue my research:

I add bone ash at different concentrations:

... and I get, for the highest concentration, on a particular area of the test, a rather intense glittery red that intrigues me!

I then choose to think further and do a search with the cross method:

I find my intense red glitter and some details that make me think of crystallization! It turns out that the result is quite different from the previous result. This should not be the case. It is only when I go back to my tests several months later that I discover my mistake. The concentration of iron oxides is 2.5 times lower between the sample in the close-up and the one in the middle of the picture above.

I decided to test the top sample on a larger piece:

This glaze is very interesting; I decide to make a larger quantity. Once prepared, I test it on a larger piece:

The result is just as interesting although different, probably due to the thickness of the enamel. This test made me think of a starry night, hence the name of the enamel.

The importance of thickness:

Using a tool to measure the thickness of the enamel, I make a few samples to observe the impact of the thickness on the enamel:

The importance of the enamel thickness can be seen. On the left, we obtain a brown color without much interest. In position 2, the thickness is ideal to see the nucleations appear and, from the 3rd sample, the enamel flows. It will be necessary to be careful when applying this glaze. I lost a big bonsai pot by using it too early (before this thickness test), failure due to big drips.

back to other enamels

Some pieces with this enamel:

To make this metallic eggplant glaze, along with my oil drop research, I make a triangle with a higher iron concentration than my oil drop glaze in diagram 48. I make a small series using a triangle:

I retain sample B0 (2nd from the bottom left):

Then I perform a search with the cross method, varying SiO2 and Al2O3:

I then get, in the center of the cross, a metallic purple black that is close to the color of eggplant:

back to other enamels

Here are a few examples of how it's done:

To obtain this texture, I use a mixture of stoneware that tends to brown, which I named sepia stoneware, and manganese oxide juice. For information on how to obtain this color of stoneware, you can access the article here.

I then apply the same method described in "Manganese oxide juice on red sandstone".

back to other enamels

Here are some examples of pieces made with this enamel:

For this glaze that I named jade green, I started from my Tenmoku glaze. I removed the iron oxide and tested the glaze by adding different oxides at different concentrations. Here you can see the test at 3 different concentrations of copper oxide.

I selected the least concentrated: 0.5% copper oxide (the one on the left).

The enamel being far from being perfect, I decide to try a diamond (double triangle) to continue my research.

The point -D1 seems to me the most interesting, I continue and I proceed to a test with the method of the cross (by making a little larger cross):

I select the bottom test (close-up below):

I use a larger amount of enamel to test it on a larger piece:

I'm not fully satisfied with the result, the color doesn't come out enough. I decide to try again by doubling my quantity of copper oxide:

The result is still not up to par... Indeed, even if the enamel is interesting, the green of the copper hardly appears.

I repeat the same test with the same enamel but applying a more important layer of enamel:

Finally the color appears!

I then decided to do a research around the thickness of the enamel using a very practical tool to measure it. You can find a small description of the tool here.

Here is the result of the research around the thickness:

We realize that the appearance of the jade green is really impacted by the thickness of the enamel!

back to other enamels

Here are some examples of pieces made with this enamel:

In order to develop this glaze that I named rust, my oil red glaze was my starting point. First of all, adding bone ash in different proportions gives the following results:

Following the first trial, I decide to vary the bone ash (samples on the top row), then I vary the iron oxide (samples on the bottom row):

The test at the bottom left (with the red dot) is the one with the least amount of iron oxide. It reminds me not only of the color but also of the texture of rust. Below is an enlargement of this sample:

In order to validate this glaze, I proceeded to a test on a larger piece. I often use kusamono pots for this because they allow me to quickly observe the result that it would give on a larger scale without taking too much risk on larger pieces. Here is the result of this test:

In view of this first result, I consider this enamel to be valid. I'm adding it to my enamel "collection". I'm looking forward to turning larger pieces, as it looks very promising!

After making the enamel in large quantities, this is the piece I make:

back to other enamels

Here are some pieces with this enamel:

To find this antique red glaze, I started with my oil red glaze.

I added different oxides in different concentrations and mixing with the bone ash in different proportions resulted in this:

The sample with the highest concentration of bone ash (right) caught my eye. A nice red color with gold glitter can be seen.

Close-up:

I am trying this glaze on a large piece:

It is a success! (at least for me!) I decide to name it antique red! This name suits him well.

After that, I test the enamel on other pieces and, unfortunately, it is a failure:

Looking at these pieces, I notice that the expected result is located where the enamel is thicker! I decided to try again: test my glaze with different thicknesses. This failure encouraged me to do the same with all my enamels in order to achieve a better control during its application, and to build (or have built, thank you Dad! 😉 ) a very practical little tool (See here the making of the tool).

We can immediately observe that with a small thickness, the result is not as expected. The sample of the middle brings us the solution as for the thickness to put on the shard.

back to other enamels