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Zinc Oxide is a material used in glaze recipes. It has been calcined to remove any of the excess water. It can be used in crystalline glaze or used as a flux in small amounts. The use of Zin Oxide also lowers thermal expansion.
Information gathered from Digitalfire Ceramic Materials Database.
Roseville is a stoneware clay material that has been used for over 100 years. It fires in cone 1-8 and comes out as a warm buff color. Roseville is used in many clay and casting bodies by itself or in conjunction with other materials.
Information gathered from Digitalfire Ceramic Materials Database.
50# bag; white bag, red text Roseville
Spanish Red Iron Oxide is a material that is similar to red iron oxide, but differs in some key ways. Spanish Red Iron Oxide has less iron and is less refined than the regular red iron oxide. Spanish Red Iron Oxide should only be used in a recipe when it is specifically called for it.
Silica shot, also known as silica sand, can be used as an additive to clay bodies instead of grog or in addition to it. Silica shot will reduce the firing shrinkage and warping of a piece. AIt may also be used under pieces in a kiln on the shelf to help the pieces move as they are firing and helping to prevent cracking.
Information gathered from Digitalfire Ceramic Materials Database and The Potter's Dictionary of Materials and Techniques by Frank Hamer.
100# bag; brown bag, Silica Shot written on many places
Yellow Iron Oxide is a coloring oxide used in many clay bodies and glaze recipes. Because yellow iron oxide fires red in oxidation, in can be used to achieve a red color in clay bodies without reducing the plasticity of the body, unlike red iron oxide.
Silica is the main glass former in ceramics. It is added to clay bodies and glaze recipes when the other materials do not add enough silica to the mix. The material is sold in two different meshes, 325 and 200 mesh. This product is 325 mesh which is typically used for glaze recipes.
50# bag; brown bag, #45 printed on side
Silica is the main glass former in ceramics. It is added to clay bodies and glaze recipes when the other materials do not add enough silica to the mix. The material is sold in two different meshes, 325 and 200 mesh. This product is 200 mesh which is typically used for clay bodies.
50# bag; brown bag, #90 printed on side
This kiln wash is suitable to protect your shelves in any firing UP TO Cone 10. Kiln wash is applied to kiln shelves to protect them from glaze drips. On a washed shelf, drips can be easily removed without gouging or marring the kiln shelf. This kiln wash is used successfully at all temperatures to Cone 10. Mix the kiln wash with water to a thin cream consistency. Apply only one coat at a time. Use a wide paintbrush or utility brush (a 2” - 3” wide, soft-bristle brush generally works best). Three individually fired-on coats of kiln wash are preferable. You may fire bisque or unglazed ware for the first two firings, but your shelves will not be completely protected against glaze drips until 3 coats have been applied. Most potters kiln wash only the tops of their kiln shelves. We discourage applying kiln wash to both sides of your shelf, but if you do, carefully check each shelf when loading to prevent kiln wash from flaking off and dropping onto your ware. When you’re applying kiln wash to your shelves for the first time, it helps to dampen the top of your shelves with a wet sponge or a water-filled spray bottle first. This makes the kiln wash go on easier and more evenly. If you notice that your kiln wash is flaking off, use a paint scraper (or something similar) to remove any loose bits, then reapply kiln wash. If glaze drips onto your shelf, use the paint scraper to pop the glaze drip off and clean up any loose flakes around the area, then dab some more kiln wash in the bare spot. COVERAGE EXAMPLE: furniture kits for a 10-sided kiln with the equivalent of 3 layers of kiln shelves, we include 2# of kiln wash. This is sufficient kiln wash to mix up and cover 3 full coats. You should also have extra dry kiln wash for later touch-ups in the future. We typically have 1# bags, 2# bags, and 5# bags already weighed out and available in our retail store for walk-in customers.
Limited supply available. In 2021, the talc mine was closed for commercial sales.
50# bag; white bag, red and blue printing, AMTAL C-92 printed on side
XX Sagger is a ball clay that fires to an off white with 13% shrinkage at cone 10. XX Sagger is useful in salt firing as well as making flashing slips for atmospheric firings.
Information gathered from Digitalfire Ceramic Materials Database.
50# bag; brown bag, XX Sagger printed on side
Alberta Slip Substitute is the 1:1 alternative to Albany Clay. Albany Clay was mined in the region of Albany, New York and could be used as a glaze on it's own, creating yellow, blacks, and browns in cone 10 reduction. Alberta Slip Substitute is more plastic than Albany, causing shrinking and cracking while drying and crazing when fired.
Information gathered from digitalfire.com and The Potter's Dictionary of Materials and Techniques by Frank Hamer.
Alumina Hydrate is the hydrated form of alumina, used to give fluidity to glazes. Too little in glazes causes them to run and too much causes them to pinhole. The hydrated version of alumina alows the material to suspend better in the mixed glaze and adhere to ceramic.
Information gathered from Digitalfire Ceramic Materials Database and The Potter's Dictionary of Materials and Techniques by Frank Hamer.
Kyanite is an incredibly refractory material with low thermal expansion. Its presence in a clay body makes it resistant to thermal shock, reduces fired shrinkage, and increases its mechanical strength.
Information gathered from Digitalfire Ceramic Materials Database
Alumina (properly called aluminum oxide) powder as used in ceramics can be a white granular material (like table salt) or an exceptionally fine silky white and dense powder (depending on the type and processing method).
In clay, alumina causes a flat crystal and gives the clay plasticity. In glaze, alumina stabilizes the fluxes and glass formers and affects the stiffness of the glaze when it is being fired. Too little of alumina has the glaze run but too much has the glaze pinhole and or crater.
Information gathered from Digitalfire Ceramic Materials Database and The Potter's Dictionary of Materials and Techniques by Frank Hamer.
***Please note**** Lithium prices have skyrocketed due to so many technology items in our society that use lithium ion batteries. It is in high demand which means it's cost is just going to keep going up. We're very sorry but it's out of our control.
Lithium Carbonate is a powerful melter and used in many reactive glazes to brighten and whiten the mixture. This material will also lower thermal expansion which will sometimes lead to shivering in a glaze. It is slightly soluble and can deflocculate a glaze slurry, making it not need as much water.
Information gathered from Digitalfire Ceramic Materials Database.
Barium Carbonate can be used in clay and glaze recipes. In clay, it can be used to reduce scumming on bisque ware. In glaze, it can work as a refractory filler, opacifier and matting agent. Barium carbonate is most commonly used for it's ability to create barium crystals in glaze, which are affected by kiln temperature and cooling.
This is a blend of minerals that closely simulates Barnard (Blackbird) Clay, a widely used clay that contains iron and manganese. Barnard clay has been used as a source of iron in dark firing glazes. It has a low plasticity and a high shrinkage rate. because it is a clay, it suspends very nicely in slurries it is added to. This is incredibly messy and will stain everything it comes into contact with!
Information from the Digitalfire Ceramic Materials Database
Manganese Carbonate is the carbonate source of manganese oxides in clay bodies and glaze recipes. Mangenese oxides produce blacks, browns, and purples in glazes. The carbonate form of the oxide will help the color disperse better within the applied glaze, leading to a more uniform color.
Information gathered from The Potter's Dictionary of Materials and Techniques by Frank Hamer.
Bone ash is a material made from ground, calcined cattle bone that is used as a flux in clay bodies and an opacifier in glazes. Di-Calcium Bone ash is the natural form of bone ash, almost always being used for raku purposes.
Information gathered from The Potter's Dictionary of Materials and Techniques by Frank Hamer.
Manganese Dioxide is a coloring oxide used in glaze recipes and clay bodies. In glazes, the addition of the colorant produces violets, browns, and metallics. In clay bodies, many people use the material to darken their clay or make black clay.
Information gathered from Digitalfire Ceramic Materials Database and The Potter's Dictionary of Materials and Techniques by Frank Hamer.
Tri-Calcium Bone Ash is the synthetic form of bone ash. While Di Calcium Bone ash is used primarily in raku glazes, Tri-Calcium is used in primarily all other kinds of glaze recipes. Bone ash is ground, calcined bone used as a flux in clay bodies and an opacifier in glazes.
Information gathered from Digitalfire Ceramic Materials Database.
Borax, sold here as a granular borax, is used as a source of boric acid in glazes. This material can be used as a flux in glaze and slips for low temperatures.
Information gathered from Digitalfire Ceramic Materials Database and The Potter's Dictionary of Materials and Techniques by Frank Hamer.
Granular Manganese is manganese dioxide that has not been ground into a fine powder. Granular Manganese is used to create speckles in clay and glazes, which ilmenite and rutile can do but are not as effective as granular manganese. To achieve speckles in a cone 4-6 clay body using 60-80 mesh, 0.2-0.3% is used. However, the granular particles will begin to bloat and bleed into glazes at a cone 6.
Information gathered from Digitalfire Ceramic Materials Database.
Boric Acid is a boron material that originates around hot springs in Italy. This material is used in preparing boro-silicate frits. It is especially useful in fast fire frits, because of their need for low sodium.
Molochite is very white material that is typically used in porcelains as a grog and aggregate. Molochite has a low thermal expansion, is resistant to thermal shock, and has a high mechanical stability, making it useful to add to some clay bodies. 120 mesh is a medium sized grain.
Information gathered from Digitalfire Ceramic Materials Database.
Molochite is very white material that is typically used in porcelains as a grog and aggregate. Molochite has a low thermal expansion, is resistant to thermal shock, and has a high mechanical stability, making it useful to add to some clay bodies. 200 mesh is a very fine grain.
Information gathered from Digitalfire Ceramic Materials Database.
Chromium Oxide is a refractory colorant that is used to add a green color to slips, clay bodies, and glazes. This material easily produces a green color at all furnace conditions, making it a fast colorant. In glazes, up to 1% will give you muted greens and up to 3% will give you opaque and greyish greens. In slips and clay bodies, up to 5% will give you a variety of grey-greens.
Information gathered from Digitalfire Ceramic Materials Database and The Potter's Dictionary of Materials and Techniques by Frank Hamer.
Molochite is very white material that is typically used in porcelains as a grog and aggregate. Molochite has a low thermal expansion, is resistant to thermal shock, and has a high mechanical stability, making it useful to add to some clay bodies. 30 mesh is a coarse, large grain.
Information gathered from Digitalfire Ceramic Materials Database.
CMC Gum is a material that can be added to glazes to make them adhere better and slows drying. CMC Gum is used in many different applications in ceramics, most common being its use in brushing glazes. The powdered gum is nearly impossible to properly disperse in water, meaning adding it directly to a glaze is not as effective. To correctly mix the gum into a slurry, a gum solution should be made. This can be done by boiling water and the powder and mixing it vigorously with a mechanical mixer. Then to add it into your glaze, replace some of the water with the gum solution. Different glazes require different amounts to work correctly.
Information gathered from Digitalfire Ceramic Materials Database.
Cobalt Carbonate is a pinkish tan powder used to color slips and glazes. When used up to 1.5%, the powder will create shades of blue. Higher amounts of the powder will create a black. While cobalt carbonate disperses better into a slurry than cobalt oxide, the carbonate will produce carbon dioxide gas in the firing, meaning it can cause blistering and pinholes in the glaze it was added to. Cobalt Carbonate is often used instead of cobalt oxide because it is able to disperse itself in glazes better, yielding a more solid color rather than a patchy or speckled color that often shows itself when cobalt oxide is used.
Information gathered from Digitalfire Ceramic Materials Database and The Potter's Dictionary of Materials and Techniques by Frank Hamer.
Frits are parts of a glaze recipe that have been melted and ground to be added into a new glaze recipe. Frit 5301 is a material that is great for high thermal expansion crackle glazes. It can also help with shivering in other glazes. This product was formerly called Frit 4101.
Information gathered from Digitalfire Ceramic Materials Database and The Potter's Dictionary of Materials and Techniques by Frank Hamer.
Nickel Carbonate Green is a colorant commonly used in glaze recipes. It is the carbonate version of Nickel Oxide Green and allows for the color to be more evenly distributed in the glazed area of the ware.
Cobalt oxide is a very powerful colorant to get blues. Using less than 1% of the material will yield a very strong blue color in glazes. However, in most firings, there is not enough time for the material to properly disperse itself in the glaze, making it splotchy and speckled. To fix this issue, cobalt carbonate can be used instead.
Information gathered from The Potter's Dictionary of Materials and Techniques by Frank Hamer.
Also known as: Pegmatite. Graven. Gowen. Manx stone. Meldon stone. Growan. Petuntse. Amakusa.Cornwall Stone is a not a single material, but a mixture mined from igneous rock, making it a mix of different components including feldspar, quartz, kaolinite, mica, and a small amount of feldspar. Because of the material's kaolinite content, it responds well to flocculation and deflocculation in glaze slurries and will help glazes adhere to bisque, prior to firing.
Cornwall Stone is primarily used as a flux in clay bodies and glazes. It is often used as a substitute for feldspar because it can introduce different alkalis into the glaze like potash, calcia, magnesia, and soda.
Information gathered from Digitalfire Ceramic Materials Database and The Potter's Dictionary of Materials and Techniques by Frank Hamer.
Yellow Ochre is a natural clay material containing Yellow Iron Oxide. It is used as a colorant in clay bodies and glaze recipes producing tans, yellows, and red-browns.
Information gathered from Digitalfire Ceramic Materials Database.
Copper Carbonate is a colorant that can be used to make greens and blues in oxidation and reds and oxbloods in reduction. This material is also used heavily in raku glazes! Copper carbonate will mix better into slurries than its oxide counterpart. A little goes a long way, 0.5-3% being enough to create color in glazes.
