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Voici quelques pièces réalisées avec cet émail « Bleu Glacier » :

To obtain this "Glacier Blue" glaze, my starting point was my " Greku " glaze, to which I added Cobalt in various proportions:

Même la plus faible concentration de Cobalt aboutit à un résultat trop vif pour moi. Je procède donc à un nouvel essai en pesant les ingrédients afin d’affiner le résultat. En effet, pour l’essai précédent, comme lors d’essais à partir d’une base existante, les ingrédients ne sont pas pesés. Je prends alors un volume d’émail déjà prêt et j’ajoute les oxydes métalliques afin de voir rapidement si une piste peut être approfondie. C’est le cas ici, donc nouvel essai avec des pesées correspondant aux 2 plus faibles concentrations de Cobalt :

Le bleu est trop intense, je réalise de nouveaux essais en réduisant la concentration de Cobalt :

Once again, the lower concentration of cobalt seems too dark.
Unable to weigh a lower concentration of cobalt with my equipment for testing on a wafer, I prepare a larger volume of enamel to halve the concentration and test it on a larger piece:

It's very close to what I'd like. On the other hand, the rendering isn't blue enough.

New test with a cobalt concentration 50% higher than before:

The result is satisfactory! I then carry out my famous thickness test:

Voici une galerie de pièces réalisées avec l’émail « Feuilles d’Automne » :

Pour obtenir cet émail « Feuilles d’Automne », mon point de départ était mon émail « Fleurs de Pissenlit » auquel j’ai ajouté de l’Oxyde de Fer dans différentes proportions :

The test on the right suits me with its variations of green and orange.

I try again, weighing the ingredients to obtain a finer result than before. Indeed, for the previous test, as when testing from an existing base, the ingredients are not weighed. Instead, I take a volume of ready-made enamel and add the metal oxides to quickly see if a lead can be further developed. This is the case here, so try again:

Il me semble intéressant d’approfondir entre les deuxième et le troisième essais avec une concentration d’Oxyde de Fer intermédiaire. J’utilise également moins de matière car l’émail paraît coulant :

I decided to test this recipe on a larger room:

J’adooooore le résultat ! Je réalise mon test d’épaisseur :

Voici quelques exemples de pièces avec cet émail :

To obtain this "Eucalyptus Green" glaze, my starting point was my " Dandelion Flowers " glaze to which I added Cobalt in different proportions:

L’essai du milieu me convient avec sa couleur turquoise et son apparition de vert franc en bordure, alliée au maintien d’une petite nucléation.

I try again, weighing the ingredients to obtain a finer result than before.
Indeed, for the previous test, as when testing from an existing base, the ingredients are not weighed. Instead, I take a volume of ready-made enamel and add the metal oxides to quickly see if a lead can be further developed. This is the case here, so a new trial centered on the middle sample:

Je suis un peu déçu. Le bleu s’est atténué tout comme les nucléations et l’émail semble particulièrement coulant. Je sélectionne l’essai de droite et réduis la Silice (à gauche) et l’augmente (à droite) :

On observe clairement l’impact de la Silice sur le caractère coulant ou non de la glaçure et sur l’apparition des nucléations. L’essai du milieu est finalement un bon compromis.

I decided to test this recipe on a larger room:

Le résultat ne me semble pas assez bleu. Je réalise un nouvel essai en ajoutant davantage de Cobalt :

Le résultat est plus en adéquation avec ce que je recherchais ! Je réalise mon test d’épaisseur :

Voici une galerie où vous pouvez observer des pièces réalisées avec cet émail « Greku » :

Au départ de la réflexion pour ce « Greku », je souhaitais obtenir un émail « Flocon de neige ». Après quelques recherches sur Internet, le diagramme 46 de l’ouvrage de Daniel de Montmollin est une piste intéressante.
Lors du premier balayage de ce diagramme, j’obtiens ceci :

Au premier rang, une zone du diagramme semble propice au développement d’un émail « Flocon de neige ». Vous pouvez suivre la suite de cette recherche ici.

In the second row, we observe a fairly white glaze with significant braiding. The addition of India ink on the third sample clearly reveals this braiding, reminiscent of a Raku firing.

So I decided to direct my tests in this direction:

Je retiens le troisième échantillon et je varie l’apport de la Silice (premier rang), puis d’une épaisseur plus importante :

The thicker test seems more interesting. So I'm testing this formula on a larger piece:

Le résultat n’est pas satisfaisant. Peut-être l’épaisseur d’émail est-elle trop fine.
Je procède à un nouvel essai avec une épaisseur d’émail plus conséquente :

Le résultat de ce test commence à aller dans le bon sens.
Cependant, de petites bulles d’air apparaissent et rendent l’ensemble disgracieux.
Je procède alors à un essai en diminuant le taux de Silice pour supprimer ces imperfections :

La réduction de la Silice semble réduire l’apparition des bulles d’air.
Je continue en ce sens avec un apport de Silice moindre :

The air bubbles seem to have disappeared. I select the sample on the right and glaze a new piece:

The result is much more convincing, but I would have preferred a whiter, less transparent glaze.
I then carry out another test (control sample above), adding: bone ash (row 1), Zinc Oxide (row 2), Zirconium Oxide (row 3) and Colemanite (row 4):

Tests with Zinc Oxide, Zirconium Oxide and Colemanite cause the braiding to disappear. However, the braiding persists with bone ash.
New test on a part with a concentration between the first and second test of row 1:

The result is a little disappointing, certainly due to the enamel thickness again being too thin.
I therefore carry out a thickness test:

The hypothesis seems to be confirmed: a greater enamel thickness (tests on the right) creates the desired effect.
I therefore carry out a new test by increasing the thickness:

Gagné !! Le résultat me plait beaucoup.
Je valide donc cet émail et le nomme « Greku » car il s’agit bien de Grès avec un effet Raku.

Here are a few pieces with this "Dandelion flowers" enamel:

To obtain this "Dandelion flowers" glaze, I started with my " Lychee" glaze. In fact, this very clear enamel has a good quantity of Titanium, so I wanted to observe the range of colors I could develop from this base.

I therefore carried out tests by weighing the same quantity of " Litchi " glaze (already prepared) and adding different oxides in different proportions. This imprecise method has the advantage of enabling me to carry out a large number of tests quickly, without having to do a lot of weighing. Following these tests, the most interesting ones, if any, can be confirmed by going back to the weighing method.

Here is the result of this first test, with the addition of Copper Oxide in various proportions:

I really like the third sample. So I decide to try again by actually weighing each raw material to determine the right amount of Copper Oxide for each:

The fourth sample is my favorite! However, the glaze seems very runny. I then make a progression of Silica:

The first sample selected, I then decided to make an Alumina progression using Kaolin :

I keep the medium sample and proceed with my thickness test:

Here are a few pieces with this "Pistachio" enamel:

To obtain this "Pistache" glaze, I started with my " Litchi" glaze. In fact, this very clear enamel has a good quantity of Titanium, so I wanted to observe the range of colors I could develop from this base.

I therefore carried out tests by weighing the same quantity of " Litchi " glaze (already prepared) and adding different oxides in different proportions. This imprecise method has the advantage of enabling me to carry out a large number of tests quickly, without having to do a lot of weighing. Following these tests, the most interesting ones, if any, can be confirmed by going back to the weighing method.

Here are the results of this first test, with Nickel Oxide added in various proportions:

Here, the third sample shows yellow, green and brown hues! So I decided to try again, actually weighing each raw material to find the right amount of Nickel Oxide for each:

I like the sample with the most Nickel Oxide, but what result do I get after adding more Nickel Oxide? So I decided to carry out new tests with, on the one hand, more Nickel Oxide :

I like the second one!

and, secondly, by varying the Titanium Oxide :

Not extraordinary.

I go back to my second sample and make a Silica variation because the enamel looks a bit runny :

I select the sample on the right, which looks a little less runny.

So I'm trying this enamel on larger pieces:

I'm delighted with the result!

I then carry out my thickness test:

Here are a few pieces with this "Caramel" enamel:

To obtain this "Caramel" glaze, I started with my " Litchi" glaze. This very light glaze contains a good quantity of Titanium Oxide, so I wanted to be able to observe the range of colors I could develop from this base.

I therefore carried out tests by weighing the same quantity of " Litchi " glaze (already prepared) and adding different oxides in different proportions. This imprecise method has the advantage of enabling me to carry out a large number of tests quickly, without having to do a lot of weighing. Following these tests, the most interesting ones, if any, can be confirmed by going back to the weighing method.

Here's the result of this first test by adding Iron Oxide in different proportions:

Here, I note the "Caramel" brown color that appears in the fourth sample. So I decided to try again, actually weighing each raw material to find the right amount of corresponding Iron Oxide:

It's not easy to find the enamel of the fourth sample. It must be between the 3rd and 4th, so I repeat the sampling of different proportions of Iron Oxide, but in a more targeted way:

I select the fourth sample. But given its slight runniness, I carry out a test by varying the Silica :

I decide to stay with the middle sample and carry out my thickness test at the same time:

I'm testing this formula on larger pieces:

Here are a few pieces with this "Granité rosé" enamel:

To obtain this "Granité rose" glaze, I started with my " Litchi" glaze. This very clear enamel has a good quantity of Titanium, so I wanted to observe the range of colors I could develop from this base.

I therefore carried out tests by weighing the same quantity of " Litchi " glaze (already prepared) and adding different oxides in different proportions. The advantage of this imprecise method is that a large number of tests can be carried out quickly, without the need for extensive weighing. Following these tests, the most interesting ones, if any, can be confirmed by going back to the weighing method.

Here are the results of this first test, with Chrome added in different proportions:

Here, big surprise, a purplish pink appears, probably linked to Titanium Oxide. I knew that Chrome could turn pink with Tin, but there's no trace of Tin here! So I decided to try again, actually weighing each raw material and reducing the amount of Chromium, to see if the "violet" could be transformed into "pink":

I'm happy with the first two samples, including the one with the least Chromium. The result is a candy pink. I decide to continue testing by adding different quantities of Tin (horizontal) with different quantities of Chromium (vertical):

The result is not great (the green sample must correspond to an omission of Titanium Oxide).

I then decided to carry out tests on larger parts with a low concentration of Chromium:

I'm satisfied with the result, but to check whether the presence of tin has any influence, I use the same glaze base, adding 1% tin:

I see absolutely no difference. Therefore, this enamel will not contain any tin!

I then carry out my thickness test for this "Granité rose" enamel:

Here are a few pieces with this "Polar" enamel:

To obtain this "Polar" glaze, I started with my " Litchi" glaze. This very clear glaze contains a good quantity of titanium, so I was interested to see the range of colors I could develop from this base.

I therefore carried out tests by weighing the same quantity of " Litchi " glaze (already prepared) and adding different oxides in different proportions. This imprecise method has the advantage of enabling me to carry out a large number of tests quickly, without having to do a lot of weighing. Following these tests, the most interesting ones, if any, can be confirmed by going back to the weighing method.

Here is the result of this first test by adding Cobalt in different proportions:

Here, I retain the slightly bluish gray color which appears between the second and the third sample. I decide to try again by actually weighing each raw material in order to find the right amount of Cobalt Oxide corresponding:

The first sample suits me! So I decide to prepare a large quantity of enamel to test it on larger pieces:

I am fully satisfied with the result. I can imagine this Polar glaze for a maple, Dehojo in particular!

At the same time I realize my thickness test, even if, knowing the base of this enamel, the result is unlikely to be unexpected:

Here are some pieces made with this enamel:

It was through research into Iron Blue that I was able to develop this "Nénuphar" enamel.

Indeed, during the research, I was trying to make the enamel less runny and I used the cross method to achieve this:

Starting from the result at the top of the cross, I perform a test on a larger piece. I will try during this test to apply a different thickness on the piece to observe the result:

We have a heterogeneous result due to the differences in thickness.

I perform a thickness test with this formula:

I liked the result and decided to call the enamel "water lily".

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