Ilmenite Glazes

Glossy Frog Skin
+ 3 grams Ilmenite

MC 0001
Cornwall Stone - 64
Gerstley Borate - 14
Flint - 7.5
Whiting - 7.5
EPK - 5
Zinc - 2
Rutile - 3
Ilmenite - 2

Satin Base with 5 grams Ilmenite
(no Rutile)

     These are just a few glazes that I used to test the material Ilmenite. It's basically just really dirty Titanium and is generally granular. These three glaze bases show how the Ilmenite can interact with the glaze. From melting entirely to remaining in its granular form the color effects are similar to Rutile's, but seemingly darker (when melted in).

Shino Glazes

     Shinos are one of my favorite types of glazes, if not my most favorite. They are incredibly variable and incredibly cheap. There's no need for expensive colorants - let alone any colorants for that matter - to make interesting colors in the glaze. That's not to say that colorant's can't be added, but there really isn't any need. With just various mixes of the basic ingredients that make up a shino (clay and feldspar at the most simplistic level) colors like tan, orange, red, gray, black, and gold can be achieved. And, they don't run so there isn't any worry for your shelves.
     There are a few types of shinos: Traditional, Carbon Trapping, Red, and High Alumina (or white, very similar to traditional but with more alumina). I don't have a personal High Alumina glaze, but these are my Traditional, Red, and Carbon Trap shinos:

Carbon Trap Shino

Neph Sye - 45
Spodumene - 15
OM4 - 15
F-4 Feldspar - 10
Redart - 5
Soda Ash - 18

Traditional Shino

Neph Sye - 70
Fire Clay - 30

Red Shino

Neph Sye - 20
EPK - 20
OM4 - 20
Soda Ash - 20
Spodumene -20

      A common shino idea is that you can mix 70% - 80% of Neph Sye with 20% - 30% of pretty much any clay to get a shino, and that's all my traditional shino is. There's no need to hunt down any Fire Clay to make one, just use OM4 or EPK. Really, any clay could work. Even XX Saggar - as seen below.
     I personally am a fan of Carbon Trap Shinos the most, so I experimented more on mine. Additions of various ingredients and substitutions of others have interesting effects.

Carbon Trap + 1% Rutile

Carbon Trap + 3% Rutile

Carbon Trap + 2% Rutile

Carbon Trap with 5 grams
extra Redard added

Carbon Trap with XX Saggar
substituted for OM4

Carbon Trap with Salt
substituted for Soda Ash

     Sodium is what captures the carbon in Carbon Trap shino's giving that nice gray - black speckling. Therefore, just about any high sodium material can be added in an attempt to trap carbon. Using wax resist right after glaze application will prevent sodium build up and show a wonderful effect of different colors in the glaze due to carbon trapping and fluxing. Substitutions like salt work well.
     Now, my Carbon Trap Shino already has a nice metalic lustrous shine, but with additions of Rutile increase that golden shine. Interestingly enough though, from 1, 2, and 3 percent the color changes from brown/gray to blue/black, to gold respectively.

     However, there are some important things to know about shinos:

• Because they have such high clay content they generally have a higher melting point that other glazes. This means that other glazes should generally be layered on top of them if you layer glazes. That's not to say that some artists have success disregarding this, because some do.  
• Iron Oxide washes painted on top of a shino will go gun metal and run.
• The crazed surface in high sodium shinos will bed bacteria just like other crazed surfaces.
• Shinos are fired in reduction, and the Carbon Trapping shinos like heavy reduction firing.

Chemical Differences: Rutile and Ilmenite

        Titanium Dioxide helps to form crystaline structures in glaze melts. The most common materials added to glazes to introduce TiO2 are Titanium Dioxide itself, Rutile, and Ilmenite. Both Rutile and Ilmenite contain a significant amount of TiO2. However, Ilmenite contains more "contaminants" compared to Rutile. On a simplistic level, Ilmenite contains approximately 50% FeO whereas Rutile only contains about 10% Fe3O2. Both also contain other contaminants that are in minute levels.

http://digitalfire.com/4sight/material/rutile_1204.html

http://digitalfire.com/4sight/material/ilmenite_863.html

Rutile: 
Can be found in granular or powdered form. The varied size varies the mottling in the glaze. The most commonly produced colors by Rutile are tan and blue (seed of the glaze name "Rutile Blue"). The Titanium Dioxide in it can inhibit crystal formation (see Permafrost Base, Rutile Line Blend) and the iron in the material can help in fluxing the glaze at high levels. Rutile can also be used to soften the color producted by more potent colorants such as Chrome and Cobalt and variegate the both the texture and color in a glaze (see Satin Base Green).


Ilmenite:
Also can be found in granular or powdered form, however is more common in granular. Can be used in clay bodies or glazes to produce a speckled effect. Like Rutile, can seed Titania crystals in a glaze. The higher amounts of iron in the material can help to flux. Grains of Ilmenite in a glaze can bleed out at higher temperatures, forming dark blemishes. In combination with Rutile, Ilmenite can help to produce the characteristic Rutile streaking and mottling.

Copper, Iron, and Rutile Line Blends

        These line blends show the effects of Copper Carb, Iron Oxide, and Rutile on the Permafrost base as well as the effects of Copper Carb on the Shorn Base. The increments of each line blend consisted of 1% - 5% regardless of colorant or base glaze. 

                   Permafrost Base                                         Shorn Base

                       Neph Sye - 45                                       Wollastonite - 25

                           Flint - 30                                            Spodumene - 25

                         Whiting - 8                                        Cornwall Stone - 25

                       Dolomite - 10                                            Talc - 25

                           Talc - 7

Permafrost Base, Copper Carb Line Blend

      Copper Carb does not flux the Permafrost Base to a noticeable amount, however increased amounts of Copper Carb begin to form very small crystals that sparkle on the satin glaze surface.

Permafrost Base, Red Iron Oxide Line Blend

      The Permafrost Base becomes more and more runny and glossy as higher amounts of fluxing agents are added, such as Red Iron Oxide. The two tiles furthest to the right were so fluid that they ran off the tile.

Permafrost Base, Rutile Line Blend

         Rutile, like Red Iron Oxide, fluxes the Permafrost Base in higher amounts. At 3% the Rutile begins to noticeably crystalize on the surface of the glaze. By 5% it fluxes the glaze enough to add a Hare's Fur like effect.

Shorn Base, Copper Carb Line Blend

     The Shorn Base alone is very runnny, so the effect of any fluxing that the Copper Carb might have caused is not noticeable. Increased amounts do, however, change both the color of the crystals and the glaze matrix. Higher amounts of Copper Carb deepen the teal background and make the crystals gunmetal.