Does the development of the color depend on the chemistry of the glaze?
In ceramics, color is about chemistry and melt dynamics, colors do not normally ‘burn out’. The development of many colors requires that the host glaze’s chemistry be sympathetic. For example chrome-tin pinks require glazes with minimum 10% CaO (calcium oxide) and B2O3 (boric oxide) must be 1/3 or less the CaO content. Certain blues require the presence of BaO (barium oxide). The presence of ZnO (zinc oxide) is hostile to the development of many colors, as is MgO (magnesium oxide). Stain companies know all about this. Their websites and brochures have notations for many of the colors that tell you what chemistry the host needs and what conflicts to watch for. You might even consider phoning their technical staff. Is there enough color in the glaze? Or too much? Metal oxide colorants or colorant blends darken glaze color as their proportion is increased. But the change is usually not linear and at some point maximum color is achieved and further additions will often begin to produce met
