Ceramic glaze test - it's NOT cermark!

[Dan Hintz]

I am not sure a Glass blowing shop will guide you in the right direction for understanding the effects of colored glass frits on a different substrate.

No, but he will more than likely have a good understanding of what glaze recipes will create a specific color. Granted, he may not share those recipes with anyone, but he'd know...

[Darren Null]

Won't necessarily help us- we're talking about much lower temperatures than either glasswork or normal pottery involve. Low-cone glazes with LOADS of frit is the sort of thing we need...we want it to melt fast.

And we'll probably have to completely redo the colour thing because we're in a different temperature range and the reactions are different/don't kick off at all.

[Dan Hintz]

Won't necessarily help us- we're talking about much lower temperatures than either glasswork or normal pottery involve. Low-cone glazes with LOADS of frit is the sort of thing we need...we want it to melt fast.

And we'll probably have to completely redo the colour thing because we're in a different temperature range and the reactions are different/don't kick off at all.

Darren,

There's little information out there on the subject that won't help... often times knowing what not to do is just as useful. Mixing in some sodium carbonate will lower the melting point of the frit significantly. Using this mix alone would only be good for metals or closed-pore ceramics (such as ones that have already been glazed... store-bought tiles would be okay), but a bit of calcium oxide and magnesium oxide helps in those other cases. There are a number of glass recipes out there that melt at temperatures below 400C (and lead-free, too).

None of the above is a state secret, it's used daily in the glass industry and most of it has been known for centuries. The color changes are known for a very wide range of materials over a wide range of temperatures (certainly any temperature range we might ever hope to achieve).

[Darren Null]

I sit corrected. I was going on the theory that people who use much higher temperatures daily won't necessarily be so clued up on the lesser-temp stuff that we're interested in. Reactions and colours that they use as daily tools won't necessarily be the same.

I did have a chat with a potter today, but -having had to do it in Spanish- I'm not much further along the path to enlightenment.

I like lead-free.

[Andrea Weissenseel]

I ordered me some enamel powder that is supposed to be melted in the oven at 150° C, the max temperature is supposed to be 180° C so it probably would be useful to know at what temp the laser works. They said there is epoxy in it

[Dan Hintz]

I ordered me some enamel powder that is supposed to be melted in the oven at 150° C, the max temperature is supposed to be 180° C so it probably would be useful to know at what temp the laser works. They said there is epoxy in it

Sounds like regular powdercoat stuff... you can purchase it by the barrelfull at places in the US like Harbor Freight. Think LaserDarc...

Not the same idea as the glaze, but it may be worth a quick play session to suspend it a solution to get it to paint easily (rather than electrostatically paint it with a gun). You'll need to add something to the solution to get it to stick to the substrate once the suspension has dried. Could be a neat effect.

[Dan Hintz]

Glazes came in I just spent the last 2-3 hours tuning for paint-coated aluminum. Text down to 6pt looks pretty decent, though it could be better. Don't know if I'll have any time to play with the glazes this evening, but we'll see.

[Dee Gallo]

Dan, I'm waiting with anticipation - what cone did you get? And are the glazes transparent or opaque? Good luck!

dee

[Dan Hintz]

They're all between 06 and 04 cone, so a higher heat than I would like, but I wanted a wide range of colors to work with. Quality reds (the unicorn of glazes) tend towards higher cones, so I set my sights high ;-)

[Dan Hintz]

Bumping this one to the top after Sergio's posting. I had some bombs early on in the process, but I was looking for the ultra-easy way out. Later (more recent) tests showed some serious progress on several colors once I used a modified plan of attack, so as time permits I will expand my color palette. I'm optimistic, even if lacking in play time...

[Tim Wooldridge]

Hey guys haven't been around here for a while. Any progress? I'm starting to try to further my process beyond the kiln.

[Dan Hintz]

I had some decent success with a burgundy color, then I ran out of time to test any more... I'll pick it up again in the coming months.

[John Barton]

I have a suggestion. Would it be of any use to start a donation fund to allow someone a few week's worth of time to have them work on finding the best DIY color solution for us? It seems as if the community has put forth a lot of good ideas and some testing but nothing has really come of it.

I'd be in to invest in giving someone who is already headed in the right direction some financial relief to play until they either get it or tell us that it's beyond our means as little guys :-)

[Cindy Rhoades]

very nice work and the marking looks fairly uniform

[Chuck Stone]

I forgot to mention that I tried a black underglaze that seemed to work well.
I don't know if it bonded or it colored the metal, but steel wool didn't remove
the mark till it removed the metal.