This is the fourth post about the making of my wall installation regarding Apple and the EEOC. To read the whole series from the beginning, start with It's Raining Men, then Somewhere Over the Rainbow, and Have You Ever Seen the Rain.
With ceramic stains, the color of the raw material is not necessarily the color to expect after firing. The final hue depends on several variables, including: the composition of the clay body, the concentration of stain relative to clay, the heatwork during firing, and whether a glaze is applied on top.
The Mason Color site only lists seven of their stains as body stains, but I knew that more could work. There simply isn’t a guide, leaving it up to artists to do our own research and development.
So my next task was to test a selection from the gamut of commercially available colors. To do this I:
- mixed small amounts of stain and clay
- formed test tiles
- stamped them for identification
- let them dry
- bisque fired them
- applied a clear glaze to one side, and
- glaze fired them.
After several weeks, I would have enough information to decide which colors I wanted to use alone, and start experimenting with my own recipes to fill any gaps.
One of the first four stains I tested, Grass Green, turned completely brown. Next I discovered that finding purples was especially difficult. Several possibilities, including Deep Orchid, Amethyst, and Mulberry, came out blue.
So I set about mixing my own purples. Researching archived/discontinued stains, I found that Orchid was a blend of 90% Alpine Rose and 10% Vivid Blue. This gave me two helpful pieces of information. First, it gave proportions of 90% pink or crimson to 10% blue as a starting point. Secondly, it pinpointed that Alpine Rose wasn't a good candidate for the pink. This tracked, since its test tile had indeed turned very pale, unlike its swatch.
Could I replace Alpine Rose with a different pink? Maybe Shrimp or Manganese Alumina Pink? And what would happen if I tried different blues, such as Vivid Blue or Mazerine Blue? I set about testing substitutions. After waiting eagerly while the glaze kiln fired...
I had purples!
Mixing stains is mysterious! And delightful! And labor intensive! And magical! I got to indulge my curiosity, and try a lot of things. I also made a database in Airtable to log all of my tests for reference and to build upon over time.
With the colors for the raindrops sorted, it was time to figure out how to make them a consistent size and shape. I’ll share how I did that next.