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Design for a Flux Triaxial
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In the last lesson we commenced the exploration of the behaviour
of flux oxides.
In order to isolate the effects that certain oxides may contribute to
a glaze melt we need to remove other variables as much as possible. i.e.
other than the oxide(s) we wish to study, in each experiment the remaining
oxides need to be kept at the same level throughout the blend and, of
course variables such as application, clay body and firing conditions
must remain as constant as possible.
Last week we tried to isolate the behaviour of one oxide only using
simple line blends - simple to mix and fire but somewhat more challenging
to design and create.
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Al2O3 SiO2 Biaxial
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Flux oxides are rarely, if ever, present in a glaze melt in isolation.
In order to explore the interaction of a number of flux oxides we need
a more complex blend structure that can bring these together in a controlled
manner. The triaxial and the quadraxial blend are ideal for this purpose.
In a previous lesson you executed a special kind of quadraxial blend called an
Alumina - Silica Biaxial (Recipe Grid). In these blends the flux oxides are held constant
across the blend while two oxides - Al2O3 and
SiO2 are varied in a controlled
manner. These blends are composites of line blends and reveal very clearly
the role of Al2O3 and SiO2 in
a glaze.
The flux triaxial reverses this design holding the Al2O3 and
SiO2 constant across the blend while varying the levels of
three flux oxides in each sample in the blend.
In this lesson we will:
- discuss the underlying theory of triaxials based on flux oxide variations.
- learn
how to create a triaxial blend in Matrix
- design and create two triaxial flux blends including colourants
- mix and fire the triaxial
blends.