Alberta Slip Base Cone 10R
Recipe
Notes
Alberta Slip, like the original Albany Slip, melts to a beautiful glossy deep brown at cone 10R. Use as a pure glaze, it stops just short of being Tenmoku at cone 10R (a 1% iron addition is needed). Unlike many Tenmokus, it is not too fluid. The color of this glaze varies considerably with thickness. Its thermal expansion is low enough that it does not easily craze on stonewares or porcelains. Like Albany, Alberta Slip is a clay. It shrinks during drying, more than Albany did. Using pure Albany as a glaze required calcining part of the mix (to prevent cracking during drying). Alberta Slip is the same, however it requires a higher calcine-to-raw proportion. While calcining is an extra step, the capacity to change the calcine:raw proportion gives you control over the properties of the slurry. Ideally it needs to be plastic enough to suspend well and harden on the ware, but not so plastic that it shrinks too much during drying. For calcining instructions please visit http://albertalslip.com. This glaze is most often prepared using the traditional method of simply adding water until the desired consistency is achieved (do the initial mix with 8 parts water and 10 powder). No flocculant additions are generally needed and application properties are very good as long as the slurry is not too viscous or too runny (dries quickly without cracking and, after dipping, there is minimal dripping). A weight ratio of 90 of our tap water and 100 powder produces 1.435 specific gravity. A 1-2 second dip in 1850F bisque-ware produces the right thickness and there is minimal dripping, even coverage and quick drying. Be careful that it does not go on too thick or cracks on drying, if needed dip quicker, add a little more water or bisque higher. Alberta Slip does not respond to Epsom salts as typical glazes for creating a thixotropic slurry, but that is not a problem since this recipe works well as is. 3000 grams of powder mix makes about 1 Canadian gallon.
Description
Alberta Slip at 60:40 calcine:raw makes a great tenmoku-like glaze at cone 10R