MIXING ABBOTS MID-FIRE GLAZES

Most potters will mix the glazes to suit the application style and thickness required.

Most of the Abbots glazes give best results when thick. Ash glazes will give best

results when thin. Some glazes such as the iron glazes and Sea Urchin are quite

fluid and application thickness should be controlled to avoid messy runs!

In general you should expect to mix 1.1 - 1.3 litres of water to 1 Kg of glaze. Pass

through an 80# sieve once or twice.

Most Abbots glazes are very well suspended. If you wish to enhance the suspension

qualities you can do this by cautious incremental additions of calcium chloride,

epsom salts or plaster of paris before sieving.

FIRING ABBOTS MID-FIRE GLAZES

We do all our development work in a 1-cubic foot laboratory kiln.

To ensure representative results we set our programmer as follows:

Ambient to 200C 100C per hour

200C to 1050C 300C per hour

1050C to 1200C 80C per hour

soak at 1200C 30 minutes

1200C to 1050C 80C per hour (fire down)

Cool

This firing just bends cone 6 in our kiln. If you follow a similar routine and also bend

cone 5 or 6 you should get similar or identical results. You may have to set your

controller anywhere between 1180C and 1220C to duplicate these results - all

kilns are different.

Some glazes may respond better to different regimes and a wide array of results

is possible. The iron red glazes respond well to a fast cool from 1200C to 900C with

a 1-hour hold at 900C. We have not yet tested every option.

The iron glazes are very fluid but work best with a thick application. Experiment

with a sacrificial catch-tray under pots until you have mastered them - and

bat-wash your shelves!

Do experiment with multiple layers of different glazes for unique results.