Vancouver Island Pottery Supply

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Plainsman Products


Clays

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Glazes

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  Spectrum Opaque Gloss Low Fire Glazes
  Spectrum Semi-Transparent Low Fire Glazes
  Spectrum Satin Matte Low Fire Glazes
  Spectrum Crackle Glazes
  Spectrum Metallic Glazes
  Spectrum Raku Glazes
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  Potter's Choice Cone 5/6 Glazes
  Celadon Cone 5/6 Glazes
  Moroccan Sand Glazes
  Spectrum Hi Fire Cone 6 Glazes
  Spectrum Shino Glazes Cone 6
  Spectrum Celadon Glazes Cone 6
  Liquid Brights

Underglazes

  Spectrum 500 Underglazes
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  Spectrum RAC Underglaze Pens
  Underglaze Tools
  Amaco Velvet Underglazes

Enamelling

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Equipment

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  Exhaust Systems
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Tools

  Brushes
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  Wood/Bamboo Tools
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  Rollers/Stamps
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  Ribbon/Wire Tools
  Rasps
  Knives, Needle Tools, Cutters
  Sculpture Tools
  Tool Kits
  Unclassified

Accessories

  Miscellaneous Accesories
  Corks/Stoppers
  Cork Pads
  Dispenser Pumps
  Teapot Handles
  Bisque Tiles
  Magazines

OPEN MONDAY -FRIDAY 9:00 - 4:00

Vancouver Island Pottery Supply has a large supply of pottery materials. Equipment...wheels, kilns, slabrollers. Clay, dry materials, great selection of tools. Product can be put together for pick up, or shipping is available.

Prices are subject to change without notice

We strive to give our customers great customer service, while shopping in the store or by phone. Our staff knows our product and equipment, and can help you with your selections.

If you have a larger order to get together please call or email the order in, so we can have your product ready. Email sales@vipotterysupply.com or call 250 248-2314.

Technical Tips Blog

A better cone 6 oatmeal glaze using Ravenscrag Slip

Ravenscrag oatmeal glazed mug

Left: G3933EF oatmeal based on Ravenscrag Slip.
Right: G3933 oatmeal based on a mix of G2934 matte and G2926B glossy base glazes.
Both have the same added colorants. The Ravenscrag version features several advantages. Most importantly much less tendency to crawl. It has better application properties, the slurry needs less water and it is naturally thixotropic. It has an extra option for adjusting properties: Changing the ratio of roast-to-raw Ravenscrag clay. It is responsive to cooling differences - more matte on slow cool versions of the C6DHSC schedule (e.g. 150F/hr), more glossy on faster cools (e.g. 250F/hr). And, its recipe is adjustable (e.g. raising the MgO if a more persistent matte is needed). And, it looks and feels way better, interacting with dark bodies for richer color and varying in tone more for thinner and thicker sections.

Context: Ravenscrag Slip, Sometimes it is better..

Wednesday 13th March 2024

Use the same runny glaze as its own catch glaze

As runny glaze as its own catcher

This is G3948A, a super runny cone 6 iron red glaze. The clay body is M340. This glaze has to be runny, applied thickly enough, be held at temperature and cooled slowly to achieve this visual effect. When applied at the needed thickness it will run off the ware onto the kiln shelf during firing. Why has that not happened? A catcher glaze on the lower section. In this case, the catcher is the same glaze. On the left, the bottom half of the mug has just been dipped into the glaze quickly, giving a layer that is too thin to achieve the red effect. That dried within a few seconds and enabled pushing the top half down into the dipping glaze for twice as long (the inside has a liner glaze and is waxed up to the rim). The upper section glaze is guaranteed to run and the bottom is not thick enough to run. The result is complete blurring of the dividing line and coverage that looks natural and flawless.

Context: Stop a runny glaze.., Catch Glaze

Tuesday 5th March 2024

Paint another layer onto a fired glaze? Yes. With CMC gum.

The cone 6 mug on the left has the G3933A glaze, applied as a dipping glaze. It turned out poorly - crawling from corners and looking thin and washed out. I made a brushing glaze version of this (which adds 1.5% CMC gum), I keep it around for this very purpose. It has a high specific gravity (unlike commercial ones that have high water contents - they will run and go on too thin if you try this). Because of the gum it dries hard, there is no shrinkage or cracking. On a second firing, using the C6DHSC schedule again, (mug on the right) the surface is transformed - thicker, more vibrant color (being picked up from the underlying body).

Context: CMC Gum, Six layers 85 Alberta.., Control gel using Veegum.., Convert a pint of..

Wednesday 28th February 2024

Iron red glaze fired at cones 6, 5 and 4

Iron red glaze at cone 6, 5, 4

These mugs are Plainsman Coffee Clay. The glaze on all three is G3948A iron red. They were fired at cone 6, 5 and 4 using the C6DHSC schedule (adjusted for top temperature). As can be seen, the red color depends on the melt fluidity achieved at cone 6.

Context: Same glaze on black.., Iron Red Glaze

Sunday 25th February 2024

Finished cast v1 stoneware beer bottles

Cast ceramic beer bottles

The center bottle is a standard glass one, the other two are ceramic, cast out of the version 1 plaster mold. The stopper fits perfectly. The clay is Plainsman M370 + 10% raw umber, it fires black. The glaze is GA6-B. They were fired using the C6DHSC firing schedule. The slightly larger size will enable inserts at the bases to inlay a logo or other info. These bottles are a testament to how 3D printing and 3D design now make it possible for even casual potters to make pieces never before practical or even possible.

Context: Slip cast leather-hard full-sized.., Beer Bottle Master Mold..

Saturday 24th February 2024

The incredible plasticity of bentonite. It is the secret to win the ThrowDown!

Two dissected vases showing the comparison in wall thickness

The 20cm vase on the left is thrown from what I thought was a very plastic body, M370. I achieved close to the same thickness top-to-bottom (5mm). The one on the right was the same original height, 20cm. But it has dried down to only 18cm high, it shrinks 14% (vs. 6% for the other). The thinnest part of the wall is near the bottom, only 2mm thick! How is it possible to throw that thin? The body is 50% ball clay and 50% bentonite. Bentonite, by itself, cannot be mixed with water, but dry-blended with fine-particled ball clay it can. That bentonite is what produces this magic plasticity. But it comes at a cost. It took about four days to dewater the slurry on our plaster table. And one month under cloth and plastic to dry it without cracks.

Context: Bentonite, Drying Ceramics Without Cracks.., Plasticity

Friday 23rd February 2024

Coarse body fires with smoother glaze

Glaze fires better on coarse body

On the left is Plainsman M332, a sandy and coarse body dry ground at 42 mesh. On the right on a wet-processed body, sieved at 80 mesh and then filter pressed - it is porcelain smooth. Yet that glaze, GA6-C, on the smooth body is covered with blister remnants while the same glaze on the coarse body is glassy smooth (they were in the same firing). That smooth glaze is courtesy of the C6DHSC slow cool firing schedule. But why does it perform so poorly on the finer body? That body is being overfired. Pieces are warping. Although not bloating, it is beginning to decompose and generate gases, they are producing the blisters.

Context: Melt flow test demonstrates.., Glaze Blisters

Tuesday 20th February 2024

Same glaze on black stoneware and white porcelain

The same glaze on black stoneware and porcelain

The glaze is G3948A iron red fired at cone 6 using the C6DHSC schedule. The bodies are Plainsman Coffee Clay and Polar Ice (the insides are different glazes). They were in the same kiln. These mugs demonstrate how much reactive glazes can interact with the body beneath and how much that affects their fired properties, especially when they have high melt fluidity like this one. On the left the glaze is drawing color out of the body. The porcelain on the right has no color to give but it does have sodium - and it is supplying enough to act as a catalyst to the creation of the iron crystals.

Context: Melt flow test demonstrates.., Iron red glaze fired.., Reactive Glazes, Body glaze Interface

Sunday 18th February 2024

Control gel using Veegum, brushing properties with CMC gum

Mixing a brushing glaze

This is G1214Z1 brushing glaze (with 5% titanium added). For a 340g powder batch (to get a pint) my initial target is 5g CMC gum and 5g Veegum. CMC controls drying speed and Veegum the amount of gelling. I first mix the CMC with the powder and shake the whole batch in a plastic bag. Then I add it all to 440g of water in the blender jar and mix it well (making sure no agglomerates remain (stage 1). Stage 2 is adding the VeeGum slowly, while high-speed blender-mixing, this is important because it enables tuning the degree of gel (which cannot be predicted). Because this recipe has little clay, it took all 5g of Veegum without overgelling (the entire mass moved freely in the mixer jar). But it did gel overnight (so 4g would be better next time). By contrast, it is the brushing behavior that demonstrates whether the amount of CMC is right. Not enough and coats dry too fast and go on too thick. Too much and it dries too slowly and too many coats are needed.

Context: Veegum, CMC Gum, Here is my setup.., Paint another layer onto.., Micro Organisms, Rheology, Brushing Glaze

Sunday 11th February 2024

4-7% tin oxide in a clear glaze - is this better than Zircopax?

These samples illustrate 4, 5, 6 & 7% tin oxide added to a transparent. Tin is super expensive (Zircopax is five times less expensive at time of writing). But consider some advantages of tin. It creates a whiter glaze. A tin-opacified glaze may only need to be half as thick as a zircon-opacified one. Only half the percentage is required in recipes. Tin does not reduce the glaze's thermal expansion as much. On these samples, the higher percentages of tin seem to produce an even better glossy surface. Tin is less likely to cause crawling, a classic issue with high-zircon glazes (it impedes melt fluidity, that is what holds super thickly applied majolica glazes on the ware). Tin is the opposite; even though this recipe is high in strontium, and thus has a high surface tension, there is no indication of crawling with the tin addition. A final issue is cutlery marking, a common problem with zircon-opacified glazes. But not with tin oxide.

Context: Tin Oxide

Sunday 11th February 2024

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Vancouver Island Pottery Supply, 515 Stanford Avenue E, PARKSVILLE, BC V9P 1V6
Phone: 250-248-2314, FAX: 250-248-2318, Email: sales@vipotterysupply.com