[vervain]

Hello everyone, I have a glaze question.

I'm looking for cream or white glaze that has dark colored speckles in it. I am firing to cone 6 in an electric kiln, and am not really comfortable mixing my own glazes yet, so I am hoping to find something commercially available. I've looked at coyote, continental, spectrum, amaco, and duncan and so far haven't had any luck.

I've seen pottery with such a glaze before, which is what prompted this hunt. Does it exist? Does it not exist? Is it a product of minerals in a particular clay body leaching through a regular white glaze, and is THAT why I can't find it?

Any help ya'll can give would be wonderful, I really feel like I'm going batty hunting for this thing....

[JLowes]

I suspect that you have guessed correctly, that it is granular manganese in the clay body that is manifesting itself as spots through the glaze. That said, check out Mayco Stoneware glaze Sea Salt and see if it will give you what you seek.
http://maycocolors.c...uemart&Itemid=4

John

[Mark McCombs]

Georgies in Portland Oregon has what they call Terrazzo.

Give them call.

[vervain]

Mark McCombs, on 27 February 2013 - 04:07 PM, said:

Georgies in Portland Oregon has what they call Terrazzo.

Give them call.

A little heavy on the speckles, but much closer to what I'm looking for, thank you for the suggestion!


If it is manganese in the clay body, would that leach through in an oxidation atmosphere, or is that something that would require reduction firing to achieve? (sorry, I'm only about two steps up from a glaze/kiln newb)

In either case, I suppose the answer is MORE TEST TILES!

[bciskepottery]

I've used Standard 112 and Highwater Red Rock, both which have manganese in the clay body, and it shows through a white glaze; fired cone 6 oxidation.

You might consider adding some ilmenite to your white glaze; the ilmenite should give you brown speckles after firing.

[clay lover]

Using specked clay might be the easiest route. Specked Brownstone, Highwater ^6, a toasty brown with plenty of speckles, too many specks, wedge some regular brownstone with no speckes into it. ??

Tucker has speckled smoothstone, which is a white clay with lots of specks.

[perkolator]

if you already have a white base glaze, try adding granular/milled ilmenite or granular manganese - and it will give speckles.

[Pres]

perkolator, on 28 February 2013 - 07:32 PM, said:

if you already have a white base glaze, try adding granular/milled ilmenite or granular manganese - and it will give speckles.

Make certain to stir often as these granular materials will settle out quickly.

[weeble]

This one works nicely, but this chip shows fewer speckles than I normally see in it...
http://www.lagunacla...ansand/ms60.php

[vervain]

I'm about to go pick up a new batch of clay anyhow, so I think I'm going to try some of my local supplier's speckled buff stoneware. It contains granular manganese, and looks like french vanilla ice cream unglazed at cone 6 . If the specks aren't coming through the glaze then I'll try a few other things. Thank you all for all of the suggestions!

[weeble]

Yep, speckled buff (if you mean the Laguna clay called Speckled Buff) will burn through the glaze like you want! It does some funky things and is a nice clay for handbuilding.