[nspdsp]

I had good results with the gold applying over a shiny black glaze, I brushed on two coats. There was some breaking in the texture where black showed through but that was my objective. I think if I had used 3-4 coats I would have achieved a solid gold result. Electric Kiln cone 6.

[Conniefi]

missholly, on 15 February 2011 - 12:09 PM, said:

i just picked up a pint of each and im not sure what to do with it. ive only worked with velvet underglazes.

im assuming these are overglazes? so would i apply to bisque and fire to the cone of my clay? (^6)
can i apply to greenware and once fire to ^6?

I have used saturation gold and have gotten various results. Usually a dark color fired to cone 6. Then one day I had about a half bottle left and used that... It came out beautiful ... A dark colored gold. I did in the past stir it well. But I think this needs more bottom stirring than usual. I will use it again but will store it upside down.

[kathleencorcoran]

Conniefi, on 28 February 2011 - 05:38 PM, said:

missholly, on 15 February 2011 - 12:09 PM, said:

i just picked up a pint of each and im not sure what to do with it. ive only worked with velvet underglazes.

im assuming these are overglazes? so would i apply to bisque and fire to the cone of my clay? (^6)
can i apply to greenware and once fire to ^6?

I have used saturation gold and have gotten various results. Usually a dark color fired to cone 6. Then one day I had about a half bottle left and used that... It came out beautiful ... A dark colored gold. I did in the past stir it well. But I think this needs more bottom stirring than usual. I will use it again but will store it upside down.

[kathleencorcoran]

I have purchased most of the potter's choice line and so far have had very limited success! I've tried doing 2 coats of one color with one coat of another over, 3 coats under and 1 coat over and I'm still not getting the results they show on their site. I did try the 2 coats with 1 coat over and that didn't do it either. I'm sooooo frustrated because their results look so spectacular~I did have one very textured pot that I used the rutile blue with something over (can't remember now!) and it broke and does look nice but that's only one of about 40 pots I've fired in the past month! I have also tried refiring but that didn't seem to make much difference either. One thing I'm thinking that might have made a difference is that we've been bisque firing at 05 instead of 04. And I noticed last time I checked Georgies site (where I get most all my glazes) that they fire over a very light clay whereas I use a medium brown body. I wonder how much difference that might make? It would be great if someone that gets great results would clue us all in )

[kathleencorcoran]

kathleencorcoran, on 28 February 2011 - 07:44 PM, said:

I have purchased most of the potter's choice line and so far have had very limited success! I've tried doing 2 coats of one color with one coat of another over, 3 coats under and 1 coat over and I'm still not getting the results they show on their site. I did try the 2 coats with 1 coat over and that didn't do it either. I'm sooooo frustrated because their results look so spectacular~I did have one very textured pot that I used the rutile blue with something over (can't remember now!) and it broke and does look nice but that's only one of about 40 pots I've fired in the past month! I have also tried refiring but that didn't seem to make much difference either. One thing I'm thinking that might have made a difference is that we've been bisque firing at 05 instead of 04. And I noticed last time I checked Georgies site (where I get most all my glazes) that they fire over a very light clay whereas I use a medium brown body. I wonder how much difference that might make? It would be great if someone that gets great results would clue us all in )

Also meant to add, I tried the saturation metallic the other day, put 4 brushed coats on and it turned out REALLY UGLY!

[Steve Lampron]

Palladium and Saturation Gold Users,



My name is Steve Lampron and I am the ceramic engineer here at AMACO. I want to give some simple tips about firing the Palladium and Saturation Gold glazes.

Palladium: This is what I call a float glaze. This means that in order to get the shiny silver look you need to actually allow the supersaturated metallic particles to float to the surface and form the skin. There is no trick to this other than to make sure you put a good thick layer of glaze on the piece. This is true of many glazes (commercial and made at home) which need a good thickness of glaze in order to make the surface. If you do not put enough glaze on, you will not have enough excess material to float and the glaze will look totally wrong. In the case of Palladium, it will be a fairly ugly green color. We fired this glaze on all of our clay bodies at both cone 5 and cone 6 with great results. I have a caution; this glaze can be very fluid and run so make efforts to allow for this. When you first try glazes you need to run test tiles (pieces) that are fired vrtically where you vary the thickness from what you think is too thin to what you think is too thick. This will show you where to go to get the look you want, it will also show you what it looks like when it is wrong. You will then know what went wrong when you get a pot that looks wrong. This glaze will be fine at cone 5 or 6 and requires no soak (it will make it run more). A medium / 8 hour firing is good. Cool normally. I see that a few people have gotten some blisters on pots that are fully glazed. This has happened on some clay bodies I found out after releasing it. It never seems to happen on poecelain bodies and these will also give the best surface. Please try your pots again on porcelain.

Saturation Gold: This is also a float glaze so thickness is important as well. The glaze doesn't turn out a bright shiny gold like gold lusters or the old leaded cone 05 golds. It turns out a dark kind of wrinkled bronze gold. It is not an easy glaze to get to look smooth and perfect. The suggestion that applying it over another glossy mid-range glaze is something that I find also helps the surface. The plain fact of the matter is that this type of glaze is difficult to use and requires alot of trial work. The kiln Gods probably didn't want this type of glaze to be made. It can be beautiful when perfected but it is not as simple to perfect as a pretty little matte white glaze.


I can't stress enough how important it is for all potters (especially new ones) to test glazes well before making pots. I know the desire to just make a pot but this method will only lead to disappointment and bad pots. Let me know if this helps or if I can address any other concerns you have.

Steve..........

[Pam S]

Steve, Thanks so much for the information. I'll give Paladiun another test run. I keep a stock of bisque fired, textured and smoothe pinch pots on which to test new glazes. I like using the pots because I can really see how a glaze flows. Nothing was ruined.

If I may make a suggestion to your company, why not include any special instructions along with the product. If it weren't for this forum I probably wouldn't give the Paladium a second chance.

[clayshapes]

Thanks to Steve for these tips. I have a suggestion for Amaco: since no one seems to be getting the results shown on your website -- but instead, everyone (including me) seems to be getting a darker bronze metallic color...and you yourself describe it as "a dark kind of wrinkled bronze"....maybe you should change the picture (and the name of the glaze!) on the website! I wasn't expecting shiny gold -- but I was expecting a light metallic gold, as shown in the sample on your site.
I like the glaze now that I have figured out how to use it, and now that I understand I shouldn't expect it to be as shown on the site...but still. If you changed the picture on the site to a more realistic depiction, others won't be disappointed.
As for Palladium. Still trying. Again, I think the website misleads. I've attached a pic of the results I got on my test "shell" in saturation "gold".

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[Dagwood323]

I am a newbie potter and have been using a kiln for only 3-4 months so I'm still learning how this works. I have been using potters choice glazes and coyote with fairly decent results. But like I said i still have alot to learn. I just tried the palladium the other day on these lanterns that I make and this was how the palladium came out. I have a sculpture I did for school I'm doing and is in the kiln right now and am giving palladium a shot on that. Crossin my fingers. I thought it would look cool giving it a steel effect like a bronze or something. We'll see.

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[pottery chic]

I have use both of these glazes and an extra coat works the best.

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[Krebs Pottery]

I have used the palladium on a reindeer ornament and totally loved it! I put it on very thick which was both good and bad... it came out looking VERY silver but it dripped a LOT. I would totally do it again but would definitely put a plate under it to catch the extra. It was fired at ^6.  IMAG0379.jpg (774.85K)
Number of downloads: 63

[Paula Patton]

I have used both of these glazes, with some really nice results. I use Highwater Brownstone clay and fire in oxidation to cone 6. I think the key to Saturation Gold is to shake the bottle really well, then shake it again! The glaze tends to turn gold in the lower areas of texture and bronzy black on the raised texture. Since neither glaze is food safe, I only use on definite decorational pieces. Do not glaze bowls in this and expect people to know that it was meant for decoration only unless you scratch that on the bottom of the pot!!! I have used it on wall art and lamps, check out the photo I've attached - Palladium is on the small test circle. It is a nice dark silvery metal color, which doesn't photograph well. Amaco is probably using a white clay so colors are always better. Always do a lot of testing! I would not use either of these glazes on a once-fire technique (on greenware). If your piece has an air bubble or isn't totally dry, it can expolde in the kiln and the glaze will stick your shelves, other pieces and even damage your elements if it sticks to them. Don't get yourself in a hurry where you have to fire so quickly! Hope this helps, Paula Patton

[spinningearthelements]

I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to share.... I have had really great results with the Amaco Potter's Choice line. I teach HS Ceramics, and these are the "lowest maintenance" glazes I can find that consistently turn out with great results. AS to the questions about the metallic glazes, as someone else mentioned on here.... you do need GENEROUS coats. I teach my students to paint glaze by first showing them that one of the mistakes people make is in "drying off" their brushes. You've got to have a fair amount of glaze on your brush in order to get it on to your pot properly. I have had beautiful results with all 3 of the metallics from this line... palladium included. (Note: all of these are CL glazes... I require my students to wear gloves as a precautionary, and the palladium is not food safe.... they are only allowed to apply it to sculptural items.)
Really can't stress enough how important it is to apply these babies with generous coats. Also, experiment with the clay bodies. Our "regular classroom clay" is Standard's #153 Buff Stoneware, and we fire to cone 5 at a slow glaze speed.... the glazes need time to mature and melt properly. If you are having pinhole problems, you can try a "soak" at the end of your firing. My distributor and (wonderful clay/glaze/kiln goddess friend) recommended a 10 minute soak at the end of the firing. Worked wonders! I don't recommend this with "runny" glazes, but it seemed to create some nice effects with the metallic glazes. We also use various other clay bodies by Standard.... you will notice quite a difference on the lighter/white bodies compared to the darker bodies. My students really enjoy experimenting with test tiles to see what layering glazes look like. Amaco has a great site that shows various combos of their PC line.... We've achieved many of the same results.
HOpe this helps.... I know I'm late in adding my 2 cents. Hopefully you have all had happy results since your last posts!
Dawn

[gypsy]

Pam S, on 28 February 2011 - 02:01 PM, said:

I tried the Paladium this weekend. Turned out a black-green with just a wee bit of metalic sheen. Ugly. I tried it on a small pinchpot and fired to ^6. My guess is it's overfired.

My friend whom I do pottery with uses the gold at cone 6, 04 bisque and it comes out true gold.

[MaimunaLynnRevRev]

gypsy, on 13 April 2013 - 07:20 PM, said:

Pam S, on 28 February 2011 - 02:01 PM, said:

I tried the Paladium this weekend. Turned out a black-green with just a wee bit of metalic sheen. Ugly. I tried it on a small pinchpot and fired to ^6. My guess is it's overfired.

My friend whom I do pottery with uses the gold at cone 6, 04 bisque and it comes out true gold.

You need to apply it thicker.