Plainsman Clear Matte Glaze

It is used as a dipping glaze, prepared for brushing, or applied over underglaze and transfers. For dipping it is mixed at equal weights of powder and water and adjusted to a specific gravity of 1.44, with about 1 g of Epsom salts per kilogram of powder as the starting point if the slurry needs gelling, and it is screened through 80 mesh after mixing and again during storage. It fires to cone 6 with a drop and hold schedule. The cooling rate sets the surface, with faster cooling giving a silkier finish and slower cooling a drier, more matte one, so production firings are kept close to the test firing. If the result is too matte, blending in Plainsman Clear Glossy Glaze at about 90 to 10 moves it toward silky, tested colour by colour since stains change the degree of matteness. A heavy coat, a double dip or a coat that cracks as it dries can crawl, a thin coat can look washed out, dark bodies can mute bright colours and cause pinholes, and a cone 5 firing will likely come out too matte. Functional ware is checked for cutlery marking, staining, crawling and shivering, and the finished formulation is tested before use on food surfaces, especially with added metallic colourants.