low fire glaze recipes 10tried & true - Ceramic Arts Daily

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ceramic artsdaily.org
10 tried & true
low fire glaze recipes
recipe cards for our
favorite low fire pottery glazes
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Contents
Good news for those of you who use earthenware and low-fire glazes in your studio! We’ve
gathered some of our favorite earthenware glaze recipes in a convenient recipe-card format,
perfect for printing and taking to the pottery studio. If you are interested in building a collection
of beautiful low-fire ceramic glazes, or adding variety to the one you already have, you’ve
found the perfect resource. If you’ve been looking for a new low fire glaze recipe to use as
a base glaze for functional work or for some different surfaces in the low fire temperature
range, here’s a great assortment of low fire glazes to start with, from textured to matt, and
from majolica to glossy transparent glazes. If you already have a repertoire of glazes and
want to mix it up a bit, try out a few of these. Adding different colorants to the glaze bases
extends the possibilities for new discoveries even further.
And remember, as with all things ceramic: results may vary! Use the various images here as
a guide to the surfaces you’ll get, but be sure to always start out with small batches and have
fun testing and tweaking! Now get out there and mix up some new pottery glazes!
10 Tried & True Low Fire Glaze Recipes
Linda Arbuckle’s Majolica Glaze Recipe
Cone 04 oxidation
Matt Glaze
Cone 06-04 oxidation
Majolica Overglaze
Cone 06-04 oxidation
Crater Underglaze
Cone 08-04 oxidation
Top Crater Glaze
Cone 08-04 oxidation
White Crackle Glaze
Cone 06 oxidation
Red Green Glaze
Cone 06 oxidation
Hirsh Satin Matt Base
Cone 04-02 oxidation
Kari’s Best Transparent
Cone 04-02 oxidation
HK Dry Lithium Base 1
Cone 010
Bonus glaze:
MNO Lichen Glaze
Cone 06 oxidation
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Matt Glaze
(Cone 06)
Gerstley Borate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 %
Lithium Carbonate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Nepheline Syenite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Grolleg Kaolin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Flint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
100 %
Add 15% glaze stain for bright pinks and
reds; for other bright colors, add 10% glaze
stain . Greens require low chrome stains, or
bubbling may occur . To get opaque pastels,
add 0 .5%–2% glaze stain and 8–9 .5%
Zircopax to total 10% .
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LOW FIRE
Linda Arbuckle’s
Majolica Glaze
(Cone 04)
Frit 3124 (Ferro) . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 .72 %
Kona F-4 Feldspar . . . . . . . . . . 17 .23
Nepheline Syenite . . . . . . . . . . . 6 .24
Edgar Plastic Kaolin . . . . . . . . . 10 .81
100 .00 %
Add: Tin Oxide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 .00 %
Zircopax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 .00 %
Bentonite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 .00 %
From Steve Davis-Rosenbaum,
Ceramics Monthly, January 1998 .
This recipe is for the stiff base glaze,
over which stains are applied .
LOW FIRE
Majolica Overglaze
(Cone 06–04)
Frit 3124 (Ferro) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 %
Wollastonite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Glaze Stain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
100 %
Can be used over a similarly colored Matt
Glaze (above) to intensify the color while
retaining the matt surface .
From Sandra Luehrsen,
Ceramics Monthly, June 2002 .
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Crater Underglaze
(Cone 08–04)
Borax (powder) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 %
Talc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Frit 3269 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
EPK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Kentucky Ball Clay (OM 4) . . . . . . . . . 15
Silica (Flint) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
100 %
Add: Silicon Carbide (100 mesh) . . . . . 2 %
White Crackle Glaze
(Cone 06)
Frit 3134 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 %
Kaolin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
100 %
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LOW FIRE
Top Crater Glaze
(Cone 08–04)
Frit 3134 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 .1 %
EPK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 .1
Silica (Flint) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 .8
100 .0 %
Add: Silicon Carbide (100 mesh) . . . . . .1 %
From James Haggerty,
Ceramics Monthly, November 2005 .
LOW FIRE
Red Green Glaze
(Cone 06)
Frit 3134 (Ferro) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 .0 %
Custer Feldspar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 .0
100 .0 %
Add: Copper Carbonate . . . . . . . . . . 3 .2 %
From Ramon Camarillo,
Ceramics Monthly, April 2002 .
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Kari’s Best Transparent
(Cone 04–02)
Gerstley Borate . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 .0%
Talc 30 .0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 .0
Frit 626 (Pemco) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 .0
Frit 3124 (Ferro) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 .0
Spodumene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 .0
EPK Kaolin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 .0
100%
Add: Wollastonite . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 .0%
Veegum T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 .0%
CMC Gum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 .4%
Celadon
Copper Carbonate . . . . . . . . 1 .5%
LOW FIRE
Hirsh Satin Matt Base
(Cone 04–02)
Gerstley Borate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 %
Lithium Carbonate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Whiting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Nepheline Syenite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
EPK Kaolin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Silica (Flint) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
100 %
Add: Bentonite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 %
Green:
Chrome Oxide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 %
Yellow:
Yellow Stain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 %
Light Blue:
Copper Carbonate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 .5 %
From Joe Pintz,
Ceramics Monthly .
LOW FIRE
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Blue
Cobalt Carbonate . . . . . . . . 1 .5%
Copper Carbonate . . . . . . . . 2 .0%
Grape
Manganese Dioxide . . . . . . . 7 .0%
Copper Carbonate . . . . . . . . 0 .5%
Emerald Green
Copper Carbonate . . . . . . . . 6 .0%
From Kari Radasch,
Pottery Making Illustrated, May/June 2004 .
LOW FIRE
LOW FIRE

MNO Lichen
(Cone 06)
Borax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 .7 %
Lithium Carbonate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 .3
Magnesium Carbonate . . . . . . . . . . .39 .2
Frit 3134 (Ferro) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 .1
Nepheline Syenite . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 .7
100 .0 %
Add: Copper Carbonate . . . . . . . . . . 5 .2 %
Bentonite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 .1 %
From Darren Emenau,
Ceramics Monthly, March 2007 .
HK Dry Lithium Base 1
(Cone 010)
Lithium Carbonate . . . . . . . . . . 27 .55%
Bentonite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 .06
Tile 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 .31
Silica/Flint (Vansil W-20) . . . . . . . .54 .08
100 .00
Salmon Pink:
Manganese Dioxide . . . . . . . . . . . 5 .00%
Burnt Salmon Red:
Black Copper Oxide . . . . . . . . . . . 3 .50%
MAnganese Dioxide . . . . . . . . . . .3 .00%
Granite Gray:
Nickel Oxide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 .00%
Oyster Shell White:
Black Iron Oxide . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 .00%
Vanadium Stain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 .00%
Limestone Green:
Black Copper Oxide . . . . . . . . . . . 3 .00%
Rutile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 .50%
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LOW FIRE
Woody Brown:
Black Copper Oxide . . . . . . . . . . . 4 .00%
Black Iron Oxide . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 .00%
Chrome Oxide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 .50%
Manganese Dioxide . . . . . . . . . . . 3 .00%
Red Iron Oxide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 .00%
Bronze:
Manganese Dioxide . . . . . . . . . . . 2 .00%
Copper Oxide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 .00%
Chrome Oxide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 .00%
These dry lithium glazes are applied to earthenware
and fired up to cone 04 . To retain
application texture and dry surface quality,
fire only to cone 010 . Multiple firings may
be necessary for color intensity and depth .
Shivering may occur if the glaze firing is
prolonged . The recommended firing schedule
is to turn up the kiln (electric) one third every
two hours, so that the kiln is on high in four
hours .
From Exploring Electric Kiln Techniques,
Published by the American Ceramic Society,
“A Personal Aesthetic”, by Howard Koerth,
p . 50 . LOW FIRE
LOW FIRE
This recipe was inspired by low-fire recipes by Lana Wilson . It
can be brushed on in various thicknesses . Some of the glaze
can flake off during firings . After firing, scrape or sand blast the
surface to remove any loose glaze . You can rub beeswax into
some areas and then torch it to remove most of the wax . Forms
often look best if fired multiple times . A nepheline syenite wash
will prevent flaking during firings . If your clay contains a high
percentage of iron oxide and salt crystals, these act as strong
fluxes and will prevent some flaking as well .
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LOW FIRE