Page 1 of 1

Ruyao: What's in a glaze?

Posted: Sun Jun 16, 2019 5:27 pm
by mudandleaves
What's the difference between factory "ruyao" and the real thing? Find out in our latest blog entry, where we discuss the roles of vitrification, reduction firing, and the two key ingredients in the ruyao glaze recipe.
.
.
https://www.mudandleaves.com/teatime-bl ... in-a-glaze
.
.
4DA78AA5-B715-449A-BF91-3646FB5706B7.JPG
4DA78AA5-B715-449A-BF91-3646FB5706B7.JPG (101.28 KiB) Viewed 5854 times

Re: Ruyao: What's in a glaze?

Posted: Sun Jun 16, 2019 10:19 pm
by pedant
interesting.

so you're saying higher oxidation state iron oxide reduced to iron(II) oxide (or even elemental iron particles?) gives a blue-green color?
blue-green is not a color i associate with iron of any oxidation state, so i wonder if it's actually particles doing Rayleigh scattering or something.

i wonder if the 'royal jade' glaze from shan kiln has a bit more iron for a deeper color?

Re: Ruyao: What's in a glaze?

Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2019 12:19 am
by Dresden
pedant wrote:
Sun Jun 16, 2019 10:19 pm
interesting.

so you're saying higher oxidation state iron oxide reduced to iron(II) oxide (or even elemental iron particles?) gives a blue color?
blue is not a color i associate with iron of any oxidation state, so i wonder if it's actually particles doing Rayleigh scattering or something.

i wonder if the 'royal jade' glaze from shan kiln has a bit more iron for a deeper color?
The key is the reduced oxygen. In an oxidizing flame iron will present as yellow or brownish red. In a reducing flame iron will present as green.

Re: Ruyao: What's in a glaze?

Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2019 3:35 am
by pedant
Dresden wrote:
Mon Jun 17, 2019 12:19 am
The key is the reduced oxygen. In an oxidizing flame iron will present as yellow or brownish red. In a reducing flame iron will present as green.
more details about green iron, please?

Re: Ruyao: What's in a glaze?

Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2019 8:17 am
by mudandleaves
Dresden wrote:
Mon Jun 17, 2019 12:19 am
pedant wrote:
Sun Jun 16, 2019 10:19 pm
interesting.

so you're saying higher oxidation state iron oxide reduced to iron(II) oxide (or even elemental iron particles?) gives a blue color?
blue is not a color i associate with iron of any oxidation state, so i wonder if it's actually particles doing Rayleigh scattering or something.

i wonder if the 'royal jade' glaze from shan kiln has a bit more iron for a deeper color?
The key is the reduced oxygen. In an oxidizing flame iron will present as yellow or brownish red. In a reducing flame iron will present as green.
Yes, it's because of the reduction firing process:

"Finally, a reduced oxygen environment is an important part of the firing process. The sky blue or tianqing 天青 ruyao glaze recipe has less than 3% iron oxide. During reduction firing, the small percentage of iron oxide gives ruyao its light sky blue."

The exact recipes are closely guarded by Ruyao potters to prevent other studios from trying to reproduce their work. It means that among these studios producing ruyao each one produces something different from the others.

Re: Ruyao: What's in a glaze?

Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2019 9:53 am
by Dresden
pedant wrote:
Mon Jun 17, 2019 3:35 am
more details about green iron, please?
Green rust is a form of iron oxide that occurs in low oxygen environments. It is commonly seen on the iron in underwater structures (that is the one I am familiar with). There are actually different types of green rust depending on the other elements present such as chlorides, sulfates, etc.

That is about the extent of my knowledge, but searching "Green Rust" should give you much more info on the subject.

Re: Ruyao: What's in a glaze?

Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 11:50 pm
by Bok
Happy coincidence, the palace Museum has just announced it will display its Ruyao collection: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/ ... 2003717186
When seeing the pictures of contemporary Ruyao I always wondered why they call it sky blue, when it is more of a dirty turquoise – but seeing these original old pieces it makes sense, so much more vibrant and actually a sky colour.

Or are there different know shades of this glaze?

Re: Ruyao: What's in a glaze?

Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2019 9:35 am
by mudandleaves
Bok wrote:
Tue Jun 18, 2019 11:50 pm
Happy coincidence, the palace Museum has just announced it will display its Ruyao collection: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/ ... 2003717186
When seeing the pictures of contemporary Ruyao I always wondered why they call it sky blue, when it is more of a dirty turquoise – but seeing these original old pieces it makes sense, so much more vibrant and actually a sky colour.

Or are there different know shades of this glaze?
By "dirty turquoise" are you referring to the photo in the top half of the frame above? Those are mass-produced "ruyao" used to compare with fanggu ruyao. The colour is very far from sky blue 天青.

Re: Ruyao: What's in a glaze?

Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2019 9:42 am
by Bok
to me both do not look very sky blue. Compared to this: https://jingdaily.com/crowd-pleasing-so ... hong-kong/

:mrgreen:

Re: Ruyao: What's in a glaze?

Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2019 11:08 am
by mudandleaves
I think this might be useful to you. It's the industry standard for colours:
IMG_1871.JPG
IMG_1871.JPG (170.62 KiB) Viewed 5689 times

Re: Ruyao: What's in a glaze?

Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2019 8:04 pm
by Bok
mudandleaves wrote:
Wed Jun 19, 2019 11:08 am
I think this might be useful to you. It's the industry standard for colours:

IMG_1871.JPG
That is indeed interesting, thanks for sharing!