Techno File: Four Ways to Reliable

Red Ceramic Glazes

June 20, 2016
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Who can resist a beautiful bright red

glaze? But red is also one of the most difficult colors to achieve in ceramic
glazes. But it may not be as tough as you thought - as long as you choose the
right method for your work.
In this post, Dave Finkelnberg explains four ways to get great red glazes and
shares four fabulous red glaze recipes, from low-fire to high fire reduction! -
Jennifer Harnetty, editor.

Chinese ceramic lore includes the tragic tale of a potter who became so
frustrated with his many failures to produce a red glazed pot for his emperor
that he finally threw himself into his kiln. When the kiln cooled and was opened,
so the tale goes, the finest red glazes were found. Modern materials make it
considerably easier to produce red glazes, although challenges remain.
Knowing the chemistry and firing requirements of the types of red glazes will
save you from throwing yourself into your kiln.

Like to geek out on glazes?

Use The Ceramic Spectrum, the accepted standard for understanding
glazes, as your guide.
 Read more and download an excerpt!

Defining the Terms

StainEssentially a frit made of colorant chemicals, compatible fluxes, and
possibly glass formers, which has been melted, cooled, and pulverized to a fine
powder.

Encapsulated Stain (Inclusion Pigments)A new generation of stable stains

made by melting metallic colorants with zirconium silicate, cooling the melt, and
grinding the result to a fine powder. Because zirconium silicate is refractory,
stains containing it can produce brighter colors up to cone 10 using pigments
that would otherwise fade at high temperatures. These colors are safe to use in
the studio.

Flux (molar) Unity or Seger FormulaThe chemical composition, commonly

of a fired glaze, expressed as one mole of total flux to the number of moles of
all other ingredients in the glaze. The term unity molecular formula does not
specify whether the flux, alumina, or glass formers are in unity. Each can be at
different times for different purposes, but flux unity is used almost universally by
ceramic artists.

Selenium/Cadmium Red
The easiest, most reliable path to red is to use relatively recently developed
cadmium inclusion stains. These stains also contain selenium combined with
sulfur, and they will produce the full range of colors in the red spectrum from
yellow through orange to brilliant red. They work in both translucent and opaque
glazes, in oxidation and reduction firings, and at all firing temperatures.
Historically, cadmium and selenium have produced glamorous red glazes but
only at low temperatures. The colorants burned out at higher kiln temperatures
and the resulting red glazes were pale. The discovery of the encapsulation
process (the melting of the colorants into a zirconium silicate glass at high
temperatures) has now made the many hues of yellow through red reliable at
temperatures through cone 10 in both oxidation and reduction atmospheres.
These stains are refractory at pottery temperatures and do not melt much, if at
all. However, the manufacturers recommend that the stain not be ball milled.
As with lead, cadmium stains can produce food-safe colors. However as with
lead, cadmium under certain circumstances can be leached from the fired
glaze. A sample of any cadmium stain-tinted glaze used on potential food
surfaces should be tested for leaching by a qualified laboratory.
Inclusion stains are suitable for use in a wide variety of base glazes. The
amount of stain to use must be determined by testing, because the base glaze
and application thickness will influence the fired results. Reds produced with
these stains, while very reliable, tend to be flat and lack the variation produced
when using oxides and/or atmospheric kilns.
Low-fire Satin Glaze
Cone 04
Ferro Frit 3195 50 %
Dolomite 30
EPK Kaolin 20
100%

Add: Encapsulated Mason

Stain
#6025 Coral Red 15 %

Iron Red
Iron red glazes often have vibrant names like Tomato Red or Ketchup Red, and
they are generally warm reds. The true reds are produced in oxidation around
cone 5. By cone 10, they tend to turn toward orange or persimmon. High-iron
glazes fired in heavy reduction will turn maroon to black.
Iron reds are mainly iron saturated, which means they contain between 5 and
10% iron oxide in the glaze recipe (most recipes use 7% or more). Iron reds
with bone ash (calcium phosphate) as a source of phosphorous (phosphorous
in general causes opalescence and brighter colors) typically contain on the
order of 10%.
Even considering the above specifications, there is wide variation in iron red
recipes. Traditional persimmon or kaki recipes, for example, are very high in
both alumina and silica but contain no phosphorous.
The source of iron oxide is important to the color produced and is possibly the
most variable colorant used in glazes. The percentage of iron, particle size, and
amount of clay, silica or other contaminants may be dramatically different from
one source of iron oxide to another.
Iron Red Glaze
Cone 10
Bone Ash 2.91 %
Pearl Ash (Potassium 10.68
Carbonate)
Whiting 25.24
Custer Feldspar 6.80
Grolleg Kaolin 35.92
Silica 18.45
100.00
%

Add: Red Iron Oxide 9.71 %

(Spanish)

From Pete Scherzer, CM Sept. 2003

Copper Red
Copper reds are achieved between cones 5 and 11 by reducing the copper
(either copper oxide or copper carbonate) in the glaze. Only a small quantity of
copper is necessary for this; 0.25% copper carbonate is sufficient, though more
is often used. The red color is aided by the presence of a limited amount of tin.
Iron can also help produce a red color in copper red glazes, but too much iron
will lead to muddy reds.
The various hues of copper red are influenced by the amount of alumina,
magnesium, and boron present in the glaze. High alumina tends to produce
cooler reds, as does magnesium, while high boron produces warmer reds.
Copper red glazes tend to be somewhat fluid, so glaze runs should be guarded
against in glaze application. Boron particularly enhances the fluidity at cone 10.
Where copper reds flow off of rims or high points, they tend to turn white.
Oxidation copper reds in electric kilns are achieved by mixing a reducing agent,
silicon carbide, with the copper in the glaze. Because silicon carbide can be a
source of glaze blisters and pinholing, its use presents its own set of problems
in the studio.
At cone 10, any combination of glaze ingredients that contains, in terms of flux
(molar) unity, 0.3 moles of alkalis, 0.7 moles of alkaline earths (preferably most
or all as CaO), 0.4 moles of alumina, 3.5 moles of silica, 0.15 moles of B2O3,
1% tin, and 0.5 % copper carbonate can produce a fine copper red if properly
fired.
Understanding and controlling the reduction atmosphere in a kiln to achieve
copper reds is usually by far the most difficult part of working with this family of
glazes. The glaze above is best if the kiln is placed in moderate reduction at
cone 010 and held there until cone 9 drops. The kiln can then be soaked in
oxidation until cone 10 is down. A smoky fire, as used with carbon trap glazes,
is never necessary to achieve copper reds. In fact, a sooty atmosphere in the
kiln is likely to produce gray, dingy copper reds due to carbon trapping.
Copper Red #11 Glaze
Cone 10 Reduction
Colemanite 10.80 %
Whiting 15.73
Kona F-4 (sub Minspar 15.57
200)
Nepheline Syenite 20.43
English China Clay 1.48
Silica 35.99
100.00 %
 Add: Tin Oxide 1.72 %
Copper Carbonate 0.42 %

A vibrant red that may turn blue,

green, or purple where thick; runs
when thick. From Andy Cantrell,
CM May 2000.

Chrome-Tin Pink
Chrome-tin pink glazes are, as their name implies, a combination of chrome and
tin that produces somewhat cool reds from a light pink to a deep burgundy. The
combination works well from low fire into the cone 6 range, but poorly above
cone 9.
According to Cullen Parmelee in his book Ceramic Glazes, the glaze chemistry
necessary is fairly specific: calcium is the most important flux because it gives
the color a greater stability and a more fiery red color while sodium promotes
yellow shades. Boron should be limited because it tends to shift the color
toward purple. Additionally, if your base glaze contains barium, the color effects
will be stronger in the absence of boron. Zinc should be avoided because
chrome and zinc can interact to produce brown. High alumina works against the
red. Because a glaze can dissolve some of the clay body, changing the alumina
and flux content of the glaze, these glazes require careful testing.
A good starting point for creating a chrome-tin glaze at cone 6, in terms of flux
unity, is from 0.7 to 0.9 moles CaO, from 0.1 to 0.3 moles alkalis, 0.25 to 0.3
moles Al2O3, not more than 0.25 moles B2O3, 2.5 to 3 moles SiO2, up to 7.5%
tin oxide, and not more than 0.5% of chrome oxide (0.15% is often enough).
A thin application of a chrome-tin glaze will tend toward gray rather than red.
Close examination of the glaze with a magnifying glass will reveal the red is
present in small islands within a matrix of clear glass. This explains why a
thicker application will produce more vibrant red. Chrome-tin pinks can be
produced more reliably from commercial stains than from the raw materials, but
stains are not required to produce this red.
Chrome-tin pinks present special challenges when working at cone 56,
because chrome (either from chrome green glazes or chrome-tin reds) can
vaporize at the peak of the firing and give a pink blush to adjacent ware with
white glazes containing tin. Since tin is occasionally used as an opacifier, this is
not an uncommon occurrence. This can be especially problematic if working
with commercial glazes where the full list of ingredients is not obvious.

Raspberry
Cone 6
Whiting 20.0 %
Nepheline Syenite 18.0
Ferro Frit 3134 14.0
OM-4 Ball Clay 18.0
Silica 30.0
100.0 %
Add: Tin Oxide 7.5 %
Chrome Oxide 0.2 %
This glaze often benefits
from a controlled slow
cooling. From Mastering
Cone 6 Glazes by John
Hesselberth and Ron Roy.