Black Copper Oxide (Cupric Oxide)

One of the oldest colorants used by potters. It is a popular source of copper in glazes and glass. It is a very strong flux, in a mix of 50% Ferro borax frit 3134 it will dissolve a firebrick crucible at cone 6! It is the most stable form of oxidized...

Black Iron Oxide

Ceramics Monthly Technofile article from March 2011 "All about iron" by John Britt  Iron—The fourth most common element in the earth’s crust and the most common element (in terms of mass) on the planet, comprising 35% of the...

Burnt Umber

Umber is a hydrated iron oxide that also contains significant manganese, calcia, alumina and silica. When umber is calcined (referred to as "burnt" because it is done to lower temperatures), the color intensifies. The material is used to color many...

Chromium Oxide Green

Chrome oxide is a very refractory ceramic colorant (even a 50% mix with a high borax frit will not even begin to melt it in a crucible). Chrome oxide is the only stable oxide of the metal chromium. It is a bright to...

Cobalt Carbonate

A pinkish tan to purple-ish powder. It is a strong colorant and almost always produces blue in glazes (unless in very high percentages where it is black). Cobalt carbonate is an extremely active melter (even more than cobalt oxide), in a mix of 50% Ferro...

Cobalt Oxide

CoO is a metallic coloring oxide that produces blue in glazes at all temperatures (unless in very high percentages where it will be black). Black Cobalt Oxide is a key source of CoO used in glazes, glass, and enamels. Cobalt is the most...

Copper Carbonate

Conceptually, copper carbonate is CuCO3, however this form is not normally available in the market (copper carbonate basic is the article of commerce) so the powder should be viewed as a family of compounds. This material is considered volatile during...

FFF Silicon Carbide

SiC powder has some curious uses in ceramic glazes. It is employed to make crater and foam glazes. The silicon takes up available oxygen to make SiO2 and the carbon combines with oxygen to make the CO2 that creates...

Granular Ilmenite

Ilmenite can be used in small amounts (-1%) to produce dark brown specks in bodies and specialized glazes. It also is used in combination with rutile to develop characteristic rutile break glazes; it seeds crystals in titania glazes.

Granular Manganese (60-80 mesh)

In ceramics, it is used primarily in clay and glaze to achieve dark brown or black fired speckle. This is the same material as manganese dioxide powder, it is simply not ground to a fine powder. Typically a 60-80 mesh material is used in...

Granular Silicon Carbide (60-80 mesh)

Sometimes used to make speckles in glazes or clay bodies.

Iron Chromite

Also referred to as Iron Chromate A dense compound of iron and chromium. It is very refractory in oxidation, even with 50% borax and zero-alumina Ferro frit 3134 it does not melt. It is used in glazes to produce gray (with...

Lite-Tone Rutile Powder

Rutile is the mineral name for natural crystals of titanium dioxide. However in nature rutile is always contaminated by up to 15% other minerals (especially iron but also things like tantalum, niobium, chromium and tin, the analysis provided here is...

Manganese Dioxide (powder)

Above 1080℃, half of the oxygen disassociates to produce MnO, a flux that immediately reacts with silica to produce violet colors in the absence of alumina, browns in its presence. Thus if it is being used in glazes fired below 1080℃ it should be...

Nickel Carbonate Green

Used as a colorant in ceramic glazes and glasses. Watch out for glaze blistering, this generates a lot of gases of decomposition.

Nickel Oxide Black **Temp Unavailable

A powerful and refractory colorant that produces greys, blues, and yellows. It is more concentrated than nickel carbonate and as little as .02% gives a noticeable tint. Normal additions are 2-5%. Typical grades are 75-77% nickel metal with...

Red Copper Oxide

Red copper is a reduced form of the normal black copper oxide (CuO). In normal oxidizing firings it will transform to the cupric oxide form (CuO) to produce the normal green coloration in glazes and glass. If fired in reduction, it will maintain its Cu2O...

Red Iron Oxide (Ferric Oxide)

Ceramics Monthly Technofile article from March 2011 "All about iron" by John Britt  Iron—The fourth most common element in the earth’s crust and the most common element (in terms of mass) on the planet, comprising 35% of the...

Spanish Red Iron Oxide

Ceramics Monthly Technofile article from March 2011 "All about iron" by John Britt  Iron—The fourth most common element in the earth’s crust and the most common element (in terms of mass) on the planet, comprising 35% of the...

Synthetic Red Iron Oxide (high purity 325 mesh)

Ceramics Monthly Technofile article from March 2011 "All about iron" by John Britt  Iron—The fourth most common element in the earth’s crust and the most common element (in terms of mass) on the planet, comprising 35% of the...

Tin Oxide

Tin oxide has long been used to opacify glazes in oxidation (make transparents opaque) at all temperatures. Hand decorated tin glazed earthenware of the 1700/1800s is the most famous use of tin in glazes (delftware-England, faience-France,...

Titanium Dioxide

Although titanium is the strongest white pigment known for many uses, in ceramics the whiteness (and opacity) it imparts to glazes is due to its tendency to crystallize during cooling. While titanium dioxide is used in glazes as...

Ultrox (Zircopax replacement)

Yellow Iron Oxide

This is one of the many colors of iron oxide. More accurately, it is an iron hydroxide. Yellow ochre clay contains yellow iron oxide. In ceramics red iron oxide is most commonly used in glazes and clay bodies, but black is also used. Yellow is the least...

Yellow Ochre

A very high-iron clay-like material available in many parts of the world. The iron concentration (coupled with manganese which is often present) makes it a powerful colorant for bodies, engobes, underglazes, and overglaze decoration...

Zinc Oxide (calcined)

Zinc oxide is a fluffy white to yellow white powder having a very fine physical particle size (99.9% should pass a 325 mesh screen). It is made using one of two processes that produce different densities. The French process vaporizes and oxidizes zinc...