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Colourants are
materials which add colour to a glaze melt other than the effects
generated by opacity and light refraction. They could be divided
into two groups:
- oxides such
as iron, manganese, nickel, cobalt etc. The chemistry of these
oxides can be taken into account in glaze formula calculations.
- commercially
prepared mixtures sometimes called stains. The analysis of these
materials is usually not known so we cannot take them into account
in glaze formula calculations.
While colourant
materials are not usually considered to have a significant effect
on the chemistry of the glaze melt in some cases, particularly where
quantities are greater, they can have a very important influence
on the degree and quality of the melt. e.g. in saturated iron glazes
iron oxide might be present in quantities of 10 to 20%. In reduction
iron oxide is a vigorous flux (FeO) and will influence the fluidity
of the melt. Other colourant oxides such as manganese dioxide and
cobalt oxide belong to the flux group but they may only be used
in such small quantities that they have little effect in this role
in a melt.
Colourants
As Seperate Materials
Matrix treats colourants
as seperate materials storing them in a special database in the Raw
Materials folder. The database file is called Oxide Colourants.col
Other colourant
database files can be created with different names if you wish. They
should always be stored in the Raw Materials folder.
The
Colourants Environment
Colourants database
is managed in the Colourants environment. To enter the Colourants
environment click the Colourants
tab in the Matrix Window.
Fig.1
The Colourants Environment |
Fig.1
shows the Colourants environment.
Colourant
raw materials are listed and the information stored for the
highlighted colourant is displayed in various boxes in the
window.
The bank
of buttons at the bottom of the window initiated processes
such as
- the
entry of a new colourant material,
- the
editing of an existing colourant in the database,
- the
deleting of a colourant from the database
- the
creation of a new colourant database
- the
loading of another colouant database if you have created
one
- the
saving of a newly entered or edited colourant material.
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The
Independence of the Colourants Environment
Actions which
you perform in the Colourants environment are independent of processes
underway in the other environments. For example you may be in the
process of entering a recipe in the Recipe to Formula environment
and find that a colourant listed in the recipe is not in your database.
Yopu may switch over to the Colourants environment, enter the colourant
material into your database then switch back to the process of entering
the recipe where you left off.
Information
Stored with each Colourant in the Database
| Name |
The
name of the colourant raw material. |
| Date |
Date
when the material was entered into the database |
| Chemical
Formula |
The
chemical formula for the raw material. This will be used if
colourants are checked to be included in formula calculations. |
| Oxide
Entering Melt |
The
chemical formula for the oxide entering the melt. |
| Molecular
Weight |
The
molecular weight for the raw material. |
| Cost |
Cost
of the material per kilo. Used in recipe cost calculations. |
| Abbreviation |
Needed
for recipe charts such as those generated for recipe databases.
This is usually the chemical formula for the oxide entering
the melt. |
| Fired
Colour - Oxidation |
A
text of maximum size 254 characters to indicate the range of
colour which might be expected from the use of the material
in oxidation firings. |
| Fired
Colour - Reduction |
A
text of maximum size 254 characters to indicate the range of
colour which might be expected from the use of the material
in reduction firings. |
| Comment |
Any
comment you wish to add to the information stored with the material. |
Follow
these links for more information about:
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