Post #595422 by swizzle on Wed, Jun 29, 2011 5:00 AM

MDM, you're laughing at the Fu Man Chu so i'm not sure what you mean by that :), but i agree with you that i'm sure i couldn't get that effect with red again if i tried.

Wendy, i'll be looking into the wax resist and below you will see my first test results with dipping. They generally say it's about the journey, not the destination, but i think with ceramics that might be a little bit different. :D

Scott, of course not. I have to steal them because i cant find the ones i took of it myself. :P So happy that YOU are happy with it. That blue coming over the edge was not intentional, but i have to say i do like it myself.

So anyway, i only picked up one glazed mug this week as i was busy doing other things so that was all i had time for, and guess what...............................................

it cracked. :(

This is the second mug to crack that is/will be going to someone in the U.S. (you'll find out later if i ever get it right :lol:) who asked for black on the inside and green on the outside. After the first mug shattered in the kiln and another using the same green -see previous posts- cracked, i decided to try another colour green. (I'll explain that below).

If anyone persists with this, thank you, because this will be a rant.
The first mug that cracked/shattered was glazed with (Cesco)Gloss Black on the inside with (Northcote Pottery)Peacock Green on the the outside. The second mug was glazed with (Cesco)Apple on the inside with the same (Northcote Pottery)Peacock Green on the outside. (Although this mug didn't crack after the first fire, it did not have the same colour as the first mug and was glazed again and then only cracked after the second fire. -See my previous posts to understand the colour difference-). After being glazed again it still didn't end up with the same colour.

This latest mug to crack was glazed with the same (Cesco)Gloss black on the inside with Italian Green(again, Northcote Pottery) on the outside. Both the peacock and italian greens are NOT supposed to be crackles (see below) yet both did that.

After having a look at all the mugs that cracked i noticed they all cracked in nearly the exact same spot, along the line (on the same side) of where the mold seperates. I understand that there might be a weak spot there but that doesn't explain why, of the thirteen mugs i have glazed so far, the three that have cracked were all green and all from the same supplier/manufacturer, yet every other mug has been fine. (The one mug i thought would crack had the same Gloss Black on the inside and was also fired TWICE).

I like the colour green and want to make some green mugs, but this is quite frustrating. If any mug makers could give me some feedback on their opinion on what might be going on, i'd appreciate it.

So anyway, if you're still with me, i glazed three more mugs this week, (one for a friend in green-but two completely different greens (both the same brand), another for a friend, just a test-he wants red and black- and i also did my first dip glazed mug this week- Wendy_.

I'll find out the mug results in a week or so, but here is my dip glaze results.

Again the #1 and #2 represents one dipping and two. The first is the (Northcote Pottery Italian Green) and you can see that there is a colour difference.
The darker colour on the right(#2) is what the sample looks like and the mug i glazed-with three coats-only shows that in patches. You can't tell by the photo but it has crazed and it is not supposed to do that. It still doesn't explain why the mug cracked.

The second glaze test shows a colour (Italian Blue)i thought was awesome, again #1 and #2 represents dipping results, and yet there is not much difference between the two.

The darker colour you can see at the bottom is a result of the the glaze settling as it dries and is obviously thicker but, to me is still the same colour.(It is a crackle effect).

I did my first test/drip glaze, on a mug, this week in this colour and will show the results when i can.