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10 tried & true

low fire glaze recipes

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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! Weve 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, youve found the perfect resource. If youve 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, heres 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 youll 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 Arbuckles 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 Karis 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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Linda Arbuckles 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 .

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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 89 .5% Zircopax to total 10% .

Majolica Overglaze
(Cone 0604)
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 0804)
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 %

Top Crater Glaze

(Cone 0804)
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 .

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White Crackle Glaze

(Cone 06)
Frit 3134 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 % Kaolin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 100 %

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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Hirsh Satin Matt Base
(Cone 0402)
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 .

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Karis Best Transparent
(Cone 0402)
Gerstley Borate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 .0 % Talc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .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 % 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 .

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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 % 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 .

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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 . 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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