Dec. 3, 2025
We had most likely a sharp shinned hawk near our bird feeder today. They prey on small birds...
Dec. 5 2025
Besides
figuring out recently that I have 40 tons of local clay to play with, I
also figured that the clay would be useful as a glaze ingredient.
The analysis that was made for the sewer project provides this
info:
Kingston clay x ray
diffraction analysis:
Kaolin
10
Potash
Feldspar 3
Mica
39 (probably Sillite)
Silica
46
Unaccounted
2
Mica
has various formulas, but is mostly silica, so the "clay" is only 10 %
clay and the rest mostly silica. I decided to add more feldspar,
whiting, and Frit 3134 (high boron) to the clay, in equal parts.
The best glaze resulting was equal parts Kingston clay, potash feldspar, and frit 3134.
Yesterday
I got the results from the first 1 kg tests of that base, with the
colorants I use for my green, white, and black glaze.
The results
are shown in the photo above, with the leftmost sponge holder showing
my current green. I also added on splashes of white or blue or
black glaze to see how they would look.
As you can see from the one
on the left, the newer glaze is far more fluid with the glaze splashes
(not necessarily a good thing)
The new green is more "green" than
the old one to the left, reminding me more of jade. The white
glaze is smooth and looks as good as my current white, but is more
fluid, as noted.
The black is excellent, and simplifies the recipe
considerably, as my current black was a combination of two glazes with
about 10 constituent ingredients.
These were fired to Cone 8, but I suspect they would be good at Cone 6 also...
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