How to Make Glazes From a Dry Mix

How to Make Glazes From a Dry Mix

Many of you order glazes and have them shipped to you. It's not always an option to drive over to Bailey here in Kingston, NY to come pick up what you need (although our Hudson Valley and nearby customers enjoy visiting us regularly). So, we take orders for glazes online or over the phone. Our customers who work in production potteries or those who like to dip glazes often order their glazes in the dry form to save on shipping costs. Today we'll walk you through how we mix up a liquid dipping glaze from a dry powder.

First - Take inventory of your glaze mixing tools and choose a glaze that comes in a dry form. We have selected 5 Lbs of the Laguna Castile Blue Cone 6 glaze. This will yield about a 1/2 gallon of glaze for dipping. We've gathered up our dry glaze, water, measuring cup, a one gallon bucket, a one gallon container, a latex glove, a respirator, a sieve, a jiffler mixer, a drill and two catalyst tools- one for scraping the sides of the bucket and one for scraping glaze through the seive.
That covers the tools.

Next- determine your water to powder ratio. This will depend on which glaze you go with. The specific instructions for mixing dry glazes can be found in the tabs below each product on our website. For this Laguna dry mix, the general rule is approximately 11 ounces of water per pound of dry glaze. 

Measure 2/3 of the water into a clean plastic bucket. Reserve the other 1/3 in a separate container. Here we put 36 ounces (2/3 of 55 oz) in our larger bucket, the one we want to actually mix in. As you may know, distilled water has had many of its impurities removed, so it is often suggested to be used when mixing glazes- but it's not required unless explicitly noted. We used regular tap water for this glaze.



Next- add the dry powder to the water, a little at a time, while mixing using the drill with the attached
 jiffler mixer headYou will want to wear a respirator with a HEPA filter cartridge to protect yourself from airborne particles.  Use one of the catalyst tools to scrape the sides and bottom of the bucket to ensure that all the powder is mixed in. Continue to mix with your power mixer until all powder is incorporated.

Check the viscosity of the glaze with a gloved finger. Most color dipping glazes should be the consistency of heavy cream. If you are mixing a clear glaze you will want the consistency to be slightly thinner- think half and half. If you are mixing a glaze for spraying you will want it to be thinner - think whole milk. For brushing a Brushing Media should be added to improve application and slow drying time.

Next - decide if you need to add water from your reserved container to get the viscosity where it should be. Add water from your reserved container a little at a time while you continue to mix. Assess the thickness of the glaze between each addition of water. Stop adding water when you reach the desired consistency.

Now that you have your glaze mixed up, it's time to sieve it. This means we are pouring glaze from the mixing bucket into another storage/use bucket through a sieve. This will get all the lumps out, so it's the final step to getting the glaze smooth and consistent. For dipping or brushing glaze, a 60 or an 80 mesh sieve is suitable. For spraying glaze, a 100 mesh sieve is recommended.



We love the Talisman production sieve for mixing larger batches of both glazes and slips. The crank handle, brushes, and changeable sieve inserts make sieving a breeze. Today we used a smaller 80 mesh test sieve and a rubber catalyst contour tool to push the glaze through the sieve. This test sieve works very for small batches, especially because it fits right over the top of the gallon jar.



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