73. How to Create Speckles in Pottery Glazes (the easy and cheap way)

In this video I will show you a new way to create interesting speckles in your glazes - with a super easy and very cheep method.
I will show you how to make you own material for the speckles, how to apply it and show the finished results of this first test.
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INDEX:
00:00 Altering pottery glazes with speckles
01:01 Methods to create speckles in glazes at cone 6
01:51 Using steel wool to create speckles in glazes
02:20 Baking the steel wool to create an iron powder
04:26 Unloading the baked steel wool from the kiln
05:32 Turning the baked steel wool into iron powder
13:25 Glazing and adding the steel wool iron speckles
23:23 Unloading the kiln with the speckled pots
27:14 Photos of the finished speckled pots

[@EmiEmi-is3ui]

Your experiments are always so much fun and I love when you summarize at the end what you would have done differently. Thank you for sharing this!

[@deMibPottery]

Thank you so much 🙏

[@triciac1019]

I love that you give tidbits all the time to teach us, like not pening the kiln too soon. This is a great experiment. Thank you!

[@deMibPottery]

Thanks a lot 🙏

[@DunoonVanRijn-dx1hr]

they are Awesome

[@deMibPottery]

Thanks :-)

[@krissader4855]

This was pretty neat. Shocking about the floating blue! You could maybe put the baked steelwool into a pepper or salt shaker? Thanks

[@deMibPottery]

Thanks. Yes, since then I started to use a powdered suggar tool

[@allenfitz1]

Intresting idea. Have you thought about adding some of the steel wool particals into a small batch of glaze insted of sprinkling on

[@deMibPottery]

Thanks and yes, that is one of the next things I want to try :-)

[@DaniMontoya]

I really enjoy your videos! You are so real!

[@deMibPottery]

Thank you so much!! :-)

[@gojec29]

A wonderful VDO like usual and a Very special effect on the glaze ... Thank for ...

[@deMibPottery]

Thanks :-)

[@gigi3242]

It's awesome to watch you play/experiment. Be well, have fun

[@deMibPottery]

Thanks, you too! :-)

[@quentinmartiny1615]

Love all the content! Thank you for sharing all your knowledge and experiments!!

[@deMibPottery]

Thanks a lot 🙏

[@shelleydoxtdator753]

Thank you, love your experiments

[@deMibPottery]

Thanks a lot :-)

[@shuvalassaf]

I had a similar experience with iron wool, but I placed the iron inside the clay body and wedged it well.
My results were interesting, but next time I will use a finer iron wool 000.

[@deMibPottery]

Interesting! For thid test I did use grade 000

[@mystierichards8252]

Can you share the recipe for floating blue how you altered it from Glazy recipe please ty for sharing

[@deMibPottery]

Its very close to this one: glazy.org/recipes/77013

[@BasilWallace]

How do you do the fluting on your bowls? I've seen your video on faceting, but you should do one on your fluting technique

[@deMibPottery]

I use various tools for this, but yes, I should make a video with this :-)

[@LaLaArtStudio]

Hello Mr. deMib ☺️
Perhaps the effect you desire could be achieved by placing the steel wool specks in a table salt shaker then distributing from a distance you can vary based on the coverage wanted. 🤔

[@deMibPottery]

Thanks. Good idea. I used another tool in my latest glaze video that actually works really well too. Also, I will try adding it to the glaze mix and the clay. May work well as well :-)

[@triciac1019]

​@deMibPottery Ohh, interesting to mix with the glaze.

[@angermomo]

love this video!!!!

[@deMibPottery]

Thanks 🙏

[@nihalsanl3184]

The video was wonderful😊 Thank you so much🙏 I have a question. If we glaze our product with this method, will it be suitable for food?

[@deMibPottery]

Thanks :-)
Food safety is a very complex issue. Watch this: 95. Food Safe Pottery - How to make Pottery Food Safe
th-cam.com/video/ZPHJfqynGso/w-d-xo.html

[@SDportraitsfrompics]

Love your experiments! Chemical interactions can be really wild; the effect on the floating blue is quite interesting. Also, what glaze(s) did you use on the top bowls in your kiln?

[@deMibPottery]

Thanks. That is Temmoku Gold

[@benmills949]

These are your Tiramisu bowls!

[@deMibPottery]

Could be :-)

[@richardruckert7954]

Hi...I've done the same. In my pieces, some of the iron "clumped up" and protruted from the glaze contributing to the 'feel' of the piece.
Being utilitarian pottery, mine 'failed', in that respect.
When applying, it often seems too little is being added, and yet the final result shows much more was added than meets the eye.
I think some form of mesh, perhaps a glaze testing sieve, of X mesh would help distribute more evenly the clumps or areas of concentration.
It's an age old affect that needs refinement.
Obviously, as applied, this lends itself to an overall warm scheme of pottery colorant.
If we can get it to look like clay speckled from Manganese dioxide, it would be a much cheaper and safer alternative; especially for white clay bodies.
I've wedged the steel wool 'dust' into the clay. that works well. Strangely, the iron specs look gray/black when wedged in. They retain their 'steel' look. I like it. Seems like a black glazed rim on a white body with the iron wedged in would work.
Another method worth a try is to add x% of the iron to the glaze. This can be done at glaze mixing, or backing into the dry content of the slop via the Boignart (sp?) calculation, which works.
This iron is not an oxide and so I don't believe it would color the glaze brown. I would hope that the iron is suspended and evenly distributed in the glaze. A challenge is the weight of even this tiny steel 'dust' is greater than the other chemicals and so tends to sink and probably dead pan.

[@deMibPottery]

Thanks a mot. Very interesting ideas. I have a baking tool in mind that may be helpful distributing a more even and think layer preventing the lumpy bits. I will try that. Will also try adding it to a glaze - probably Folk art would work the best.
You mention Manganese. Did you try using that?

[@cynthiaknox2131]

One idea for getting the angel dust effect might be to put the steel wool dust into a sieve and sprinkle from high up above.

[@cynthiaknox2131]

Thanks so much for sharing your experiments.

[@deMibPottery]

Thanks, and yes. I actually just got this old fashion kitchen tool used to spread powderd sugar on a cake - its a siev with a mechanicsl thing inside that push it through. Will try that :-)

[@cynthiaknox2131]

@@deMibPottery in the US it is called a flour sifter.

[@deMibPottery]

Thanks. Makes sense :-)

[@DunoonVanRijn-dx1hr]

Buff Speckled Glay. Try it out yourself

[@deMibPottery]

I like to make my own

[@DunoonVanRijn-dx1hr]

Wax the bottom of the pot, it will stop the Glaze from coating it as well

[@deMibPottery]

Often its faster not to :-)

[@321ReadysSetG0]

Isn't the all "white" bowl the one you glazed at minute 17:00? I thought it was the Folk Art glaze inside and out you did. At about 20:50 you switched to the floating blue and did the other bowls. Did all the fluted bowls come out white? So interesting.
We use iron filings wedged into clay. The iron filings come out of the break linings when the breaks on the car are changed. I think I'd like to try the baked iron wool instead of the iron break filings. Just need to run it by out kiln tech for the ok - I'll have her watch your video so she understand your process. Thanks 👍🏼👍🏼

[@deMibPottery]

Thanks. Due to the shorten/editing it is a bit confusing which bowl got which glaze - but two of them got floating blue and yet turned out very white. But I will reglaze them and see if I can improve the result :-)

[@DunoonVanRijn-dx1hr]

Mix it into the clay

[@deMibPottery]

That gives it a different effect from what I want

[@Just2dreamsaway]

[@deMibPottery]

:-)