Thursday, November 6, 2008

Lead Based Crystalline Mattes

Here are some of the lead based tiles I got out of the kiln yesterday. I plan to also post fire these in the large gas kiln in the next week or so. 

To me, at this point, the glazes do not have enough contrast between the light and dark and hopefully this post fire reduction will help them along a bit. 

Right now I am working on 2 different kinds of matte crystalline glazes. These, which feature a lead based frit, and the satin mattes, which are softer and more sensual to the touch. I really like them both. 





1 comment:

bill boyd said...

John-
Awhile back I did some testing with matte glazes. The lead frit glazes were very soft, like a baby's bottom. I've been trying not to use lead but haven't come up with anything better yet. I noticed something too that also seems to be a problem with lead (not just health issues): The soft brick in my Skutt kiln are all cracked more than ever all over the surface inside. It seems like the lead is so volatile that it might be getting absorbed by the brick, even after just a few firings. Even though I have an electric "Enviro-Vent" on the kiln.

Have you noticed this on your kilns? Bill