Third Friday Glazes: Interactive Pigments and Colored Celadons

By Marsha Neal Studio

Welcome to my monthly post about testing Cone 6 Commercial Glazes. 

Click HERE to see all the posts I've done on Cone 6 glazes so you can catch up if you need to.

This month I decided to expand upon my post from last year using Georgies Interactive Pigments (G.I.P). with Coyotes Franks Colored Celadons (C.F.C.C.)

I find that by themselves, these Colored Celadons are very beautiful. 

They brush on nice and are perfect for revealing the details of the textures on my porcelain pieces. 

But what if you don't exactly want "pretty". 

I'm not saying that you don't want nice results, but not-pretty meaning in a not "cute" kind of way. 

I've been a bit obsessed with the way things can look old. 

Where there are dark edges and lines within textures. 

And bright spots where the porcelain clay underneath is exposed…

So this is where the Georgies Interactive Pigments come into play…

Let me give you a visual:

There are 12 tiles total, each about 3" square, porcelain, no texture.

Pictured above in each row is pre-glaze firing, back of tile, post-glaze firing (small cone 6).

Each tile has 1 G.I.P. brushed on it vertically.

Then each tile has a 3 coat "dab" of all 12 of the C.F.C.C. on it in this order:

Row #1: 98, 99, 100, 101

Row #2: 102, 103, 104, 105

Row #3: 106, 107, 108, 109

They were fired flat on the kiln shelf to small cone 6.

What happens is that the G.I.P's being heavy in colorants (iron, cobalt, oxides, etc) they are meant to change colors of the glazes applied over top or underneath of them. 

This series of tests has the G.I.P under the glazes.

Oh man, I think I need to do it again with them over the glazes too - just to see how it changes it.

Personally I really like the way the underglaze breaks through where the glaze is on a bit thin.
A bit of a balance: enough glaze color to puddle and let the glaze come through, but not so much that it washes away most traces of the G.I.P.

This is the front (above) of one my textured porcelain butterfly pendants.
Hopefully you can see the blue puddling a bit in the center...

And this (above) is the back of that same pendant.
I just LOVE the way that the black G.I.P. looks like it is melting down into the watery blue glaze…

And to think - from the tests above 12 G.I.P x 12 C.F.C.C. = 144 variations.
Then depending on how it looks with the G.I.P. applied over the glazes instead of under them - that could be 144 more.
Take into consideration your clay body, texture, firing atmosphere - and you've got a ton of possibilities - all from the same commercially tested and available glazes.
Pretty cool I think!

A good book that I loved to refer to when I used to make and test my own glazes back in college was:

The Potter's Palette by Christine Constant

There may be newer books out there, but this one was my "go to" visual aid for colorants.

Or for those of you that want to go direct to the oxides yourself and bypass the G.I.P.

Have fun with your tests and remember that every month, you can link up to these blog posts with a direct URL to your blog post so we can share in the fun of testing glazes...

*Remember to read the safety labels on every glaze, colorant, & material you use!*