Lineblends
If you make up one
glaze, test it and you don't like the result, you have few clues as
to what you should do to get a better result. If you blend together
two different glazes, you immediately get a range of glaze tests and
can clearly see the effect of one glaze on another. Sometimes the effects
can be very interesting. This technique can be used to explore existing
glazes you have, or to develop colour blends, to see the effect of increasing
a particular ingredient on a glaze, or even blending stoneware and earthenware
glazes to develop midfire glazes.
All you will need
is a jug, small seive (120# or around that), disposable cups, marker
pen and a 60ml syringe (these can be hard to find, but vets have them
and may give/sell you one).
Mix up 100g of glaze
A and 100g glaze B to the SAME VOLUME (use the jug). The volume will
vary depending on the glaze, but should be around 200ml, with the glaze
being the consistency of single cream. Make sure that you mark the cups
with pen to avoid mistakes.
The lineblend can
have as many intermediate glazes as you like between A and B. Here I
will show a 7 glaze lineblend. The top line shows percentages, the bottom
row shows syringe volumes.
|
Glaze 1
100%A 0%B
|
Glaze 2
83.3%A 16.7%B
|
Glaze 1
66.7%A 33.3%B
|
Glaze 1
50%A 50%B
|
Glaze 1
66.7%A 33.3%B
|
Glaze 1
16.7%A 83.3%B
|
Glaze 1
0%A 100%B
|
| glaze A |
50 mlA + 10ml B
|
40 mlA + 20ml B |
30 mlA + 30ml B |
20 mlA + 40ml B |
10 mlA + 50ml B |
glaze B |
Mix the glazes thoroughly,
then dip an angled test tile into each, or use the syringe to trail
a patch of glaze onto a tile. Vertical standing test tiles are best
as they show movement of the glaze (runny glazes) and how it might change
on edges (eg tenmoku glazes). Make sure that you mark the test tiles
with iron brushwork so you know which is which and apply the glaze thin
and thick on the same (or seperate) test tiles. Many glazes vary considerably
on the thickness of their application with crazing, colour, texture
and fluidity.