Test Tile Organized Game Plan – Cross-Mixing Commercial Glaze Colors!

Just jotting down some thoughts as I ponder the best way to organize and test my plethora of glazes.
Plethora = Over 100!

Obviously I have to have a baseline criteria and system or else the number of glaze samples would be into the 1000’s. So how should I go about choosing what I want to mix and what do I really want to know about what my colors can do together? One thing is necessary…

BASIC SAMPLE CRITERIA

1. Everything will be fired to Cone 5 so only cone 5 glazes will be mixed together.

2. Same Brand: To simplify the process, I’m going to only mix glazes within the same brand family (except when adding tinting (white) and shading (black) glazes to the basic colors. These two colors may be another brand.

3. 1/4th ratios : Again for simplicity sake I thought I’d mix 50/50 – equal parts, but realized that mixing a heavily dominant color or extra runny glaze may need adjustments. I’ve decided on mixing in 1/4 portions dependent on the characteristics of each glaze.

3 TYPES OF TEST TILES

1. BASIC COLORS (meaning commercial glazes as they come from the manufacturer).
      A. Sample stripe of the basic color in 1, 2 & 3 coats.
      B. Sample stripe of the basic color with Tint (white added) & Shade (black added)

2. MIXED BASIC COLORS (3 coats of color)
      A. Sample strip of each stand alone BASIC COLOR
      B. Sample strip of colors after they are mixed.
 
3. LOW FIRE GLAZES AT HIGH FIRE TEMPERATURES
     A. Sample test tile of 1-2-3 coats.
     B. Sample of wash effect.

Just typing it out really helped me get a handle on the direction I need to go…now it’s trying to figure out the most time efficient way to get the job done!

Here we go folks! !!!

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